Loads of Mindless Violence
by Clement Rage
Summary: I need to practice my action scenes, so send in some challenges for me to paractice on!
1. Chapter 1

**Loads of Mindless Violence**

Hi, folks. I don't think my action scenes are up to scratch, so the purpose of this fic is just for me to practice them. Send in your challenges-there has to be a protracted action scene involved. It can be a boss fight in the games if you like, just anything, as long as I can use it as an excuse to practice. Thank you. Here's the rules.

No obvious mismatches. I don't want to see a Marlene v Sephiroth.

No fighting over each other. I don't do pairings.

Only use characters from the original FF7, DOC, or AC, because I don't have any of the others.

If you want to use your original characters or just people like a faceless Shinra soldier, give me some details about them to work with.

Thanks, people. Much obliged.


	2. CH1: Reno v OC

**Challenge 1: Reno v Cressida, FROM Moonshine's Guide**

"Ahahahaha! I am a genius!" Hojo screamed, watching as his long anticipated inter planar portal finally ground into gear after years of research and experiments. Of course, President Shinra was less than enthusiastic about hordes of demon invaders, so he had to be careful, and shut off the portal after the first entity tumbled through, a woman in a long white robe, muttering to herself as she stood and dusted herself off.

"They told me summoning an Esper through Deifacted Nethicite was dangerous, but would I listen? Oh no!" While she was still orienting herself, Hojo sealed three foot thick mythril doors around the research area, and called President Shinra, knowing that while the President had not condoned the research, he would be most interested in their captive.

-

President Shinra reached into his pocket as his personal PHS rang. How was it that it _invariably_ did so whenever he was in an important board meeting? Flicking it open, he excused himself, and resolved to have all his Executives executed if they were interrupting him for anything less than accidentally starting another war. And if that was true, then he'd execute them anyway.

"What is it?"

"A being from another plane of existence is currently sealed in one of my labs. I don't know what it's capable of, so I'd appreciate some combat staff to help test its capabilities, if you have any available."

"Is it important enough among its kind to start a war?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything about her. She's out of range of Sense materia, and I prefer to keep her quarantined at present, in case I contaminate anything."

The President considered. Inter planar war was so irritating. And Reno was getting overconfident, ever since that Fire Demon had gotten in and he'd cracked its skull(receiving serious burns in the process, but surviving). A thorough beating would be good for him.

"Very well. I'll send the Turks along to help you."

"Thank you, sir."

"Goodbye. Oh, Hojo?"

"Yes, sir?"

"If I ever find you undertaking an unauthorized project again, you can say goodbye to your executive position...and your thumbs. Good day."

-

Reno checked his Mag Rod was fully charged, and strolled into the quarantine zone, inwardly furious with himself, outwardly cocky as usual. This was what boasting about killing inter planar invaders cost him. Elena hadn't shut up for years, but _she_ wasn't the one about to fight whatever this thing was.

The final set of doors hissed down behind him, and he found himself facing a fairly normal looking woman in a white robe, who looked up and said "Who are you?"

Reno activated his Sense materia and broadcast the data received back to Hojo's command console.

"Hi. I'm not going to tell you my name. For all we know you could be capable of using that information to kill us all."

"I...see. This is something similar to Draklor, is it? Are you going to let me go?"

"We're going to run some tests, just to see what you creatures are like. If you cooperate, and promise never to tell anyone what happened here, you will not be harmed."

"And you are testing..."

"Your combat capabilities. I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill me." Reno lunged. She sidestepped, and he was swatted out of the air by a giant...thing...of some sort that suddenly appeared, knocking him into a table and though several glass test tubes. The test tubes had no purpose in this room, but Hojo believed in appearances.

"Ow. What's this called?"

"His name is Belias." A plume of fire (Painflare) incinerated the desk just as he rolled off it. As Belias moved towards him, he somersaulted over its head and delivered a fully charged Electroprod to the back of its skull, using its thrashing as a springboard to make his landing. Landing near the woman who'd summoned it, he managed to clip her shoulder with his rod while she was preoccupied healing her monster, but Belias was between them before he could bear down on her, lashing out with his scepter. Dodging this, he came up inside the monster's guard and went for the kneecap, staggering the monster but not knocking it over. A powerful kick sent him rolling across the room yet again. A Haste spell, courtesy of the White Mage, allowed the monster to hit him with two more plumes before he swallowed a Hi-potion and rolled upright. Then the monster did something like a victory dance, and the room filled with flames.

He only escaped frying by jumping on top of a steel desk. Every wooden desk in the room burst into flame, and most of the glassware melted, but when he re-emerged the monster had vanished. The glass viewing window Hojo was watching the display from also melted, dripping down the wall.

Surprised to see him still standing, the woman hadn't yet resummoned her monster, and he could have brought her down, but he was over cautious, she was able to resummon it before he reached her, and was lucky not to be decapitated from behind. But with it behind him, she had no protection, and he charged her as she drank down what appeared to be an Ether, knocking the glass bottle from her hand as she tried to down a second. A plume of fire erupting behind him knocked him over just before he reached her, and his strike hit her shins, tripping her, but not much of an injury. Leaping on her, he charged the Mag-Rod, but was forced to roll aside as a strike from Belias thudded into the wall above him. The charge instead went into the hand of Belias as he tried to strike again, knocking him backwards, but giving Cressida time to scramble up and get behind her monster. A second plume of fire followed, setting fire to his jacket, but he somersaulted over Belias' head and delivered a series of ringing strikes to the side of its head mid-flight, followed by a second Electroprod on landing. This time, Belias disappeared without the fireshow.

Reno charged. He couldn't give Cressida time to summon her monster again, so had to take her down quickly. He covered the distance with speed born of desperation, charging his Mag Rod en route, but she still downed three Ether before he reached her. His Electroprod was a direct hit, causing her to scream and collapse, stunned, but before he could relax a plume of flame from behind engulfed him, setting him aflame and only frantic Cure3s cast from the viewing window kept him alive. She'd managed to resummon Belias before he'd knocked her cold.

Shedding his flaming jacket, he staggered upright, turning to face Belias for what he hoped was the final time. Patches of his skin and other clothes still burning, he advanced on the creature cautiously, with his caution mirrored by the monster. Charging the Mag Rod again, he tried to somersault over its head, but this time the monster was ready for it and flipped his sceptre upward, catching Reno with force enough to send him flying up to the ceiling, actually bouncing him off it, before plummeting to land heavily on the steel floor.

Trying and failing to get up, he could see in his peripheral vision Cressida staggering to her feet, and used the last of his strength to seal her inside a Pyramid. Belias advanced again, and he knew he couldn't fight it, not any more...

-

Watching above, Hojo watched Belias advance.

_The President will not be pleased if he dies...I'd better do something._

-

"Hey! Reno! Heads up!"

_Shut up, Elena, you whiny bitch. I don't need to die with you talking at me. _But he raised his head, and saw a ring landing right in front of him. A_ Fire _Ring.

_Kid, I love you. _

He got it on his finger just before the Painflare washed over him, with the help of the ring no longer incinerating him but actually energizing him, invigorating him. Now confident that Belias couldn't harm him, he leaped up –and was harshly disabused of that notion as the sceptre slammed him into the wall hard enough to crack ribs, effectively canceling out the previous bonus. Having dropped his Mag Rod when bouncing off the ceiling(he could see it lying beside Belias' feet) there wasn't much he could do except die when Belias attacked again. Backed into a corner by the monster, he saw Hojo throw something from the viewing window, something which formed into two monsters which attacked Belias from behind, which, struggling, the Esper dispatched. Now almost as weak as Reno, Belias started the dance that preceded his most powerful attack, not knowing that Reno was now invulnerable to it thanks to the ring...

...which had broken with his impact with the wall and was no longer on his finger.

He just had time to throw his arms up to shield his face before the fire hit him.

-

Shinra techs had relocated the White Mage to her home plane of existence, and Reno was in hospital getting skin grafts and surgery. He was certainly now less enthusiastic about fighting creatures that came through that portal, and the President would soon have a slightly less annoying employee. The portal had been shut down and Hojo had been severely reprimanded for endangering life as they knew it. Everything was back to as much of normality as this author will allow as long as he keeps getting challenges or doesn't get bored of doing them, but, naturally, this couldn't last.


	3. CH2: MP v Thief

_Apologies to Moonshine's guide, but a sword/gun duel is hard to choreograph, so I'm going with the other challenge for now._

**Challenge 2: MP v Thief, FROM Mr. Ite**

Even knowing that MPs were not exactly revered by the populace, Taren nevertheless felt pride upon donning his shiny new armour. MPs existed largely to look pretty, as the Shinra military did whatever it wanted, and any fewer than five MPs fighting a trained opponent was a joke. The Shinra military could police themselves, and MPs were primarily used for duties such as crowd control, PR, and creating the illusion that Shinra were everywhere. All of these duties required looking impressive as part of their criteria, and Taren was determined to do this. He'd passed the entrance exam with flying colours, and was hoping for promotion within two years.

Shinra was currently at the height of its power, and the military was a well paid job with good benefits and references, so there was a surplus amount of MPs in the army at present, the lowest form of soldier. Back during the war, their numbers were kept down by the Wutaiens, but now, faced with a drain on Shinra finances caused by useless soldiers with nothing to do to earn their wages, Heidegger had decided to send huge numbers of MPs on meaningless patrols through the slums, subject to the hospitality of inhabitants who _didn't _have nice shiny armour and training but _did_ know how to break someone's neck with a chair. This would A), Cut down on their numbers, leaving more money to pay the higher ranked soldiers who actually served a purpose, and B), the survivors would gain some experience and MPs would be less of an embarrassment to the company. So far, it was working.

Patrolling a fairly mild district of the slums (they had to be given _some _chance to survive), a fellow MP to his left, two grunts behind them to deal with any actual threat, Taren swallowed his nerves and tried to stay alert, a task made difficult by the two Grunts clearly laughing at their tension. Grunts were only one step above MPs, but that step involved experience enough to know that the only danger in this area of the city was tripping and accidentally shooting yourself. Taren was smarter than the other MP, and he was beginning to realise this, his revelation helped by the presence of the elderly lady nearby walking without any apparent concern. Unfortunately for her, this carelessness was in fact misplaced as a figure jumped out of the shadows and ran off with her handbag. The four soldiers set off in pursuit.

The thief was weak and starved, but the four soldiers had armour and weapons weighing them down. The MP armour was lighter than the grunt armour, so the two MPs pulled ahead, finally cornering the terrified thief in an alley with a dead end. The grunts soon caught them up, and after a reprimand for carelessness, exchanged glances and shrugged.

"He's all yours...Orders are that any threats are to be dealt with by you, and if you can't handle it, we step in."

The MPs exchanged frightened glances. Neither of them had been of in a real combat situation before.

"Relax...for Christ's sake, he's half starved, and you have machine guns. Try not to shoot him unless he attacks you."

They stepped into the alley. It was littered with junk from the plate above-plenty of space for someone to hide, but no way to escape except the way the Grunts were guarding. He was in here somewhere.

They fanned out, leaving no stone unturned. Taren couldn't imagine what that would feel like, hiding in the darkness, waiting to be shot.

"Come out...we won't hurt you if you come quietly...just stay calm, and remember to show respect at your hearing."

"Respect?" The voice came from near the end of the alley. "Why should I show respect? Corneo took my sister, and all you policemen did nothing, just let it go because he's useful. But Shinra won't last much longer, even if I won't live long enough to see it . You want to shoot me, shoot me! I got nothing left." The thief stepped out into view, holding the handbag in one hand. He was about sixteen, emaciated and filthy. The other MP raised his weapon.

"What're you doing? He's just a kid!"

"He has the potential to be an embarrassment to Shinra! We could make a fortune off his head. Besides, he's a thief from the slums, so who cares?"

"Oh, yeah, _who cares!" _the kid spat. "You would say that." He threw the handbag at them. Naturally it fell well short. But the lady who'd owned it hadn't been as stupid as she'd looked, although she hadn't quite got her head around the concept of the safety catch.

The side of the bag was blown out as the sawn off shotgun inside hit the ground, the round burying itself harmlessly in the debris. Both MPs reflexively fired-their training impelling them to fire at the source of the bullet, thus raking the innocent bag with several rounds, allowing the thief to escape behind the relative safety of a rusty bulldozer blade, which the second MP subsequently fired on. The steel blade sent the rounds ricocheting straight back at him, miraculously causing little more than flesh wounds. The MP dropped his weapon and staggered, falling backwards over an old stereo. Taren turned to help him get up, and as the other MP staggered upright, he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye-namely the thief diving for the handbag. Too late he turned, seeing the kid rise with a pistol and start firing.

He was eternally ashamed of what he did next. Somebody more intelligent might just have fired a burst at the kid, not necessarily hitting him but just making him nervous, which, combined with his inexperience at firing, would have made him shoot wild. But being under fire was not something Taren was used to, and he dived behind the huge stereo behind him. The other MPs reaction was even worse. He froze with panic, and five rounds penetrated his soft armour as he stood there like a painted target.

The unfortunate thief had been aiming for his head, but hadn't been trained in compensating for recoil. As a result, the shots were wild-later discovered to be one in the shoulder, two in the chest, one nicking the right ear. A lucky shot hit the throat. The MP collapsed, coughing blood and falling back over the stereo. The triumphant thief then charged, happy with his success. Taren rose from behind the stereo, and, with no time to aim, hit him full across the jaw with the full weight of his machine gun, firing on him as he hit the ground. But the thief was fast, and the bullets hit the ground an inch from his head as he lashed out with a foot and brought Taren down on top of him. The gun, as it invariably does in these situations, skidded away across the alley, although in practice this seemed impossible. Nonetheless, it happened.

Wondering where the hell the grunts were, but his pride preventing him from calling for help, Taren knew he was out of his element here. He didn't fight close in like a brawler, but in open spaces where his targets didn't take cover and preferably also didn't shoot back. Thus, he was having trouble with having his head repeatedly rammed into the ground.

Eventually, he recovered his wits enough to drive his elbow back into his attacker, a weak strike, but enough to loosen the grip on his back of his head slightly, so he could roll free and try to strand up. That was the plan, but as he stood, he could see the thief drawing a bead on his forehead with the handgun he'd dropped when he'd been hit with the other gun and had now regained, and was forced to lunge for him. The bullet buzzed by his ear, but that was the only shot the thief managed to get in before the full weight of an armoured soldier hit his gun hand, throwing off his aim, although he regained his grip on the weapon. The MP's momentum sent him flying into three rotting mannequins which dissolved on impact, but he was behind a giant robotic arm before he could be fired on. Running along the arm and emerging at the other end, he saw his fallen machine gun and snatched it up, ducking behind the bulldozer blade that had already proved to be appropriate shelter, before emerging and shooting at the thief, who promptly dived behind the end of the robotic arm. Moving across behind the blade so he could see down the other side of the arm, the MP emerged to the sensation of a bullet slicing across the back of his hand, discovering that his target had stayed on the original side of the arm and fired over it, ducking down again as the MP countered. Drawing back, the MP slotted in a fresh clip (his last) and wondered how many rounds that handgun held. By the look of it, it was either a six shot or an eight shot, so that meant the thief was either empty or had two chances left. The MP Machine gun had a thirty bullet magazine, but usually fired in bursts of five.

Sneaking across to the other side of the bulldozer blade, he literally bumped into the thief at the corner, who had been sneaking up from that side. Neither had a chance to raise their weapon, and the weight of the MP's armour meant that he knocked over his target, but fell down on top of him, the machine gun falling away for the second time in about thirty seconds as he instinctively broke his fall with his hands. Then they were back to wrestling over the handgun again. Forcing the barrel above both their heads through mutual desire not to be shot, they fought each other with heads, elbows, feet, and anything else they could think of, hands occupied with keeping a grip on the weapon. Just as Taren was feeling proud over how well he was doing, his target took one hand off the gun, leaving him certain of victory until said hand came back holding a length of wood and hit him across the head. As he went limp, the thief scrambled up and took off like a hare.

When he woke up a few seconds later, he retrieved his machine gun and saw the two grunts tending to the wounded MP, and joined them.

"Where is he?"

"Probably on the other side of the city by now. Come here, give us a hand."

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"We were too busy trying to keep your friend here from bleeding to death. He's touch and go as it is. We _could_ have stopped him, but didn't feel like shooting him for stealing one bag. What sort of lady carries a double barrelled shotgun and a handgun in her bag?"

-

"I can't believe I was robbed!" Jessie screamed out the door of the bathroom, removing her make-up and wig. "Barret is going to kill me!"

-

Shortly afterwards, applications to join the army plummeted, and many existing troops applied for an honourable discharge. The reputation of the company was intact, as not many MPs had actually had to die before the rest got the message, leaving the Shinra military lighter, far more efficient, and, thanks to the extra money in its budget no longer tied up in wages, better paid, trained and equipped, making Shinra a lot harder to bring down.

* * *

_Please R&R. Be critical, because the reason I'm doing this is to get better at my action. _


	4. CH3: Rufus v Kadaj

_I don't like this chapter. It just doesn't work._

**Challenge 3: Rufus**** v Kadaj**

_I hate Mako tanks_

_I really hate Mako tanks._

Floating around in said tank, that was his only thought, until the voice intruded on his mind.

**Help Me...**

_Who are you?_

**You don't know me? Have you forgotten so much, Sephiroth?**

_I'm not Sephiroth...am I?_

**Hmmph...fool. No, now I see the truth. Not Sephiroth, but perhaps useful nonetheless. How would you like to escape from that pathetic prison you are contained in?**

_Now you're talking. How exactly?_

**I can give you the strength. Really, after Sephiroth, you'd think they'd be more careful with the clones.**

_I'm.. just a clone? Of Sephiroth? _

**No, no. Think of them as...****drat, what do people value these days...It was much easier to get slaves when all they wanted was food and safety...**

_You realize I can hear you?_

**Oh no. The Lifestream is volatile, currents of thought interfere all the time. What you hear isn't necessarily what I say. You aren't a clone. Think of them as...a family. Yes, a family. I'm the Mother, and Sephiroth is an elder brother.**

_Mother?_

**Yes**** , Mother! Do you want to escape or not?**

_I'm listening._

**Then break out. Just smash your way out. **

_That's your great escape? __Wow._

**Shut up! Just do it!**

Shrugging, he rammed his hand through the glass, shattering it, but cutting his hand to ribbons in the process.

_See, this is why you never took over the world, 'Mother'._

**It's a scratch. Stop whi****ning and free the rest of them.**

He got out and looked around, seeing 'Kadaj' written on his own vat. He was dressed in biker gear, and there was a sword on his back, for some reason. He drew it, testing the balance, and sliced through the lock on the two vats nearest him, before the alarms went off. 'Loz' and 'Yazoo', if their vats were to be believed, staggered out orienting themselves quickly and ducking behind their vats as the soldiers poured in. Kadaj did an improbable fifty foot leap, apparently without effort, and prised the bars from the small window he reached with his sword.

"Hey, guys!" The others did equally ridiculous jumps and landed out the other side of the window. Examining the soldiers firing at him, Kadaj elected not to attempt to open the rest of the vats and landed lightly on the ground outside. The other two...Clones? Brothers? leaped onto the two nearest bikes in the carpark they found themselves in

and roared away. Kadaj was about to follow suit when-

**Wait. You have to find out where I am, so you can come rescue me.**

_You don't know?_

**The last thing I remember is Red XIII's teeth puncturing my skull. I challenge you to think clearly in that position. The Lifestream could have washed me anywhere, but the Shinra probably brought me back for study if they could. It's the kind of thing they do. While you're here...**

_...Right._

By an odd stroke of luck, Rufus was taking his morning walk with two W.R.O. bodyguards (Shinra hadn't shattered with Meteorfall, the man who had taken his place while in recovery had everything to lose with its fall, so he'd kept it alive, but it was a shadow of his former self, so Rufus had to hire guards off Reeve to prevent an angry mob tearing him apart) outside the Shinra compound, and, Kadaj cut him off as he was trying to re-enter with the arrival of the alarms. Memories were coming back as he shook off the influence of the Mako sedative, and he recognized the President as he landed in front of them. Jenova helpfully supplied some knowledge, and Kadaj fired some sort of blue thing at the man, at a charge to stun. He didn't know how he knew this, but he did. Rufus dived from his chair and took the fall on his shoulder, rolling to his feet as his chair was obliterated. His feet! His two guards registered this, but he blew their brains out before they could raise their own weapons or tell Reeve he'd conned him.

"Hello, sir. Killing your bodyguards isn't conducive to longevity, you know."

"Nobody saw me but you, and you're a clone, so your word is hardly reliable. And the likelihood of you being able to raise that sword before I've put three bullets through your eye is-" He fired as he spoke. Kadaj flicked his sword up so that the bullets sparked off it harmlessly.

"Extremely likely?" Then they both lunged. Kadaj moved fast, never staying still long enough to present a clear target. Rufus spared his shots, knowing wasting ammo could be fatal, after his first shot hit empty air, trying to use the barrel to deflect the sword. Spinning to his left, he dashed aside a sword stroke aiming for his heart, nicking his shoulder instead. Kadaj kept moving in the same direction so the counter bullet missed, lashing out at his back, but a smart step forward meant the blade hissed through empty air. Kadaj was on him as he turned, but had to sidestep his bullet, which bought Rufus an extra second to bring the barrel up to clash with the blade. The tip was sheared off the barrel, but he ducked under the assault as Kadaj leapt to his left yet again, circling him like a dancing partner. For an instant he presented a clear target, but Rufus had to bring back his weapon to clash with the sword again to avoid being cut in half by a cross slash at waist level. The blade was stopped by the barrel, but the force of the clash propelled Rufus backwards, giving him another spare second to draw a second gun. _'Now I have you...' _was clearly written on his face as he opened fire.

A series of rapid acrobatics and sword movements meant that he didn't draw blood, even at this range. Later, a bullet would be found, sheared neatly in half by the edge of the blade it had hit. As the weapon clicked empty, Rufus threw it away in disgust and reverted to his original weapon, rising to his knees as he did so. Kadaj lunged for an overhand slash, leaving himself completely open with nothing to protect him from being shot. He couldn't bring the sword down in time. Trusting his clone's regenerative ability to save him?

Rufus' eyes on the sword, he missed the boot coming up to his gun arm from below, knocking it up just before he pulled the trigger. The bullet sliced down the inside of Kadaj' upper arm-hardly even a flesh wound. The sword came down, shearing the gun in half and driving through its owner's shoulder.

"Where's Mother?"

"Mother?"

"Jenova?"

"You think I'm going to tell you?"

"If I twist this sword when I pull it out you'll bleed to death in seconds. So, yes, you're going to tell me."

"Ah...direct. I like that. I have no idea, to be honest. The North Cave was too dangerous to mount an expedition, not when our resources were decimated by Meteorfall."

"If you're lying, I'll be back."

"I don't doubt it."

But he was already gone.

-

_Later..._

"Okay, guys, you know what happened. An escaped Sephiroth Clone is looking for Jenova in the North Cave. He killed my bodyguards and wounded me. We have to get there before him to prevent another Meteorfall. So...whose up for it?"


	5. CH4: Vincent v Hojo

_I have to admit, I like this one._

**Challenge 4 Vincent v Hojo**

"Talk! Why did you let this happen?"

"Silence!"

A gunshot.

"Ugh...ugh. Lu...crec..ia"

"Body...for my next experiment...success here...will justify my previous failures...hahahahaha...A genius! Yes, I am!"

-

And he woke up. To excruciating pain, and a consciousness attempting to subvert his own. But he fought back, and staggered off the desk he was lying on, not sparing a thought for what was going on. But then his sudden strength left him, and he could only collapse to his knees, unable to move but to scream at the agony. There was something not his in the scream, something...bestial. It was off the leash and looking to kill. The terrifying shriek echoed through the building, through the soundproofed well, and out into the village beyond. People knew better than to investigate. Screams from the manor were, while not common, not unheard of either.

After several minutes, Vincent looked up, to see a stock still Hojo watching him with intense fascination, flanked by two Attack Squads who were drawing a bead on him, all of them attracted by the scream.

"Hello, Professor" Vincent said, standing up, his eyes glowing red. He'd remembered how he'd come to be in this position. He took a step forward.

"Don't do this to us, Valentine" one of the attack Squads told him "We don't want to shoot you."

"Then don't." Vincent replied, his hand dipping for his holster with eerie speed, even for a Turk. It was empty.

_Let me out, _Galian whispered, _let me out and I'll help you._ Vincent took another step forward.

"This is my affair, gentlemen. Leave him to me." Hojo had his weapon drawn too.

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Of course. Seal the doors behind you, don't let him escape."

"Good luck." The guards backed out, still targeting Vincent, before shutting and locking the quarantine doors. Vincent blinked. Why would Hojo voluntarily dismiss his bodyguards?

"Hello, Vincent. You know me?"

"Of course." Vincent grated, taking another step and ignoring Galian's insistent whispers.

"Interesting...I had hoped that by infusing a subject with the Guardian spirits in the tomb of the Cetra, I could make him more durable. This had previously failed, the internal struggle tearing my test subjects apart. But it seems that all I needed was a more durable subject to begin with. Congratulations, Vincent. Not only are you still alive, you appear to have full control of your mind. You are a total success."

"I'm...delighted." Vincent took another step.

"Hmm...even sarcasm. Your mind seems undiminished. I wonder...if I can infuse a subject with the Guardian Spirits, could I use the Cetra in the same way? If her regenerative abilities could be harnessed, I could give the President immortal soldiers. But she is too powerful at present. I would risk freeing her. So...not yet. But, one day, perhaps, when I have refined my methods of containment, I could..." Hojo appeared to have forgotten that a murderous professional assassin was in the room-he was talking to himself, staring into space, thoughts far away. Using the interlude to get closer, Vincent was almost close enough to snap his neck when Hojo suddenly recovered himself.

"Oh! How...impolite of me. Vincent, you will be the start of a revolution in biotechnology. Sadly, however, you have outlasted your usefulness."

Vincent, blind with rage, didn't see Hojo's gun hand come up, but Galian did, and while his host was preoccupied, he seized control of the body and jerked aside. The bullet, intended for between his eyes, impacted in the shoulder instead, a wound that healed quickly as Galian received full control, Vincent slipping into the background, prepared to step aside as long as he could watch the show. Hojo arched an eyebrow at the transformation, and sketched a mocking bow.

"The Galian spirit, I presume?"

"You are correct..." Galian growled.

Hojo holstered his weapon. "Guardian of the outer chamber of Jenova's prison. You must be powerful. They would not risk her escape."

"No...and you plan to harness her? Foolish. That will lead only to destruction. Therefore, you must die. This host will not prevent me-indeed, he seems quite content with such an outcome. Defend yourself as you can."

"I shall. Let us see what you are capable of, shall we?" Hojo spread his arms. Galian advanced, suspicious, sniffing the air. Hojo seemed quite unperturbed by his slow stalk, admittedly tense as a spring, but not afraid or even defiant. Galian searched the ground and ceiling for traps, could find nothing, and grew even more suspicious. There had to be a reason for such confidence.

While there were many benefits to being infused by an ancient Cetran beast, there were downsides as well. You could not control his actions. And, while transformed, your metabolism was accelerated, and as such, there was a time limit to how long you could stay with the Beast in control. Galian knew he didn't have long. He had to do something before he had to retreat. So fire blossomed from his fingertips.

Hojo wasn't expecting this, but he reacted quickly, dodging the first two fireballs. The third hit him squarely in the chest, charring the white coat and knocking him backwards into the doors. Galian was already in the air by the time the fireballs connected. He sliced blindly through the vapour created by the fire, feeling his claw slice across flesh and a scream, before something long and sharp drove through his chest and emerged between his shoulderblades. The vapour cleared to reveal Hojo, bleeding but laughing, his right arm transformed into a three pronged claw several feet long.

"You weren't the only Guardian spirit, Galian. While your fellow is contained and cannot manifest to the same extent, he was much more powerful, and his claw alone will be sufficient to defeat you without running the risk of him taking over my body. After seeing the success of your manifestation, I realised I could safely induce a controlled manifestation without risking my vessel to usurpation. So...what is that phrase the children use? Ah yes...Bring it on."

"You talk too much, little creature." It took more than being impaled to bring down a Cetran Beast.

"So Dr. Crescent tells me. It's a character flaw." At the mention of Lucrecia, a fresh surge of rage from Vincent's dormant conciousness allowed the man to briefly gain control of his transformed body and summon another fireball. Hojo flicked the beast off his claw so he could use it to shield his body, sending Galian crashing into a table with enough force to smash it to firewood. Somersaulting upright, Galian regained control of his host and sent another flurry of Fireballs towards the Professor, who blocked them with his claw and countered with a Lightning bolt of some kind, shattering the glass of the thankfully empty Mako tanks behind the desk. Advancing, Hojo thrust with his claw as Galian somersaulted aside again, launching more Fireballs en route. The claw smashed part of the bookshelves between this room and the office, but before he could draw it back one of the Fireballs got inside his guard and connected with enough force to send the professor flying back across the room. Seeking to capitalise, Galian lunged, but Hojo sat up and hammered him into the room's high ceiling, positioning his claw to impale Galian as he fell back, but the monster slid around the sharp points and slid down the length of the claw, delivering a stunning kick to the jaw of Professor Hojo. For most people, it would have been a neck breaker, or at the very least an incapacitating blow, but Hojo was a hell of a lot more resilient than he had any right to be, and the man regained consciousness in time to roll aside from the final killing blow and deliver a counter powerful enough to drive his attacker into the quarantine doors so powerfully that said quarantine doors were torn off the wall by the impact. Staggering upright, Galian walked directly into a Lightning bolt that knocked him flat once again. He tried to get up and failed.

"Hahahahaha! You almost had me, Galian, but you are no match for my genius! Hhahahahahahaha!"

Seeing his resident spirit was too disoriented to fight, Vincent stepped forward and took control of his body again. It was still in the Galian form, because the Beast's consciousness was stunned, not revoked, but this wouldn't last long, so he had to make the most of it.

The unexpected Fireball hit Professsor Hojo squarely in the face, igniting his hair and searing the throat that was still open for his laughter. Blinded, and knowing Vincent would be about to go in for the kill, he flailed madly at the air with one hand while reaching inside his jacket with the other and throwing something that shattered on the ground. Vincent, who was advancing with a slow stalk to induce maximum terror in his prey, suddenly found himself confronted by two tentacled creatures that lunged for him. Galian, now recovered, seized control once more, and reacted, driving all four claws straight through the bulbous eyes of the first specimen. As it dissolved into red dust, they second specimen wrapped twin tentacles around his neck and tried to choke him to death, deftly avoiding his attempts to skewer it.

Hojo, having used this short respite to down an Elixir, opened reddened eyes to see a madly flailing ancient Cetran Beast apparently dancing crazily around the room cracking its head off the walls. He started laughing, but Hojo laughed a lot anyway, especially at the pain of others, which was invariably caused by his experiments, and thus was interspersed with cries of 'I am a genius!' On this occasion he chose to forego this, and settled for staggering upright and levelling his claw at the preoccupied beast.

Finally tearing his attacker off his face, Galian turned to see a recovered Hojo about to impale him. Vincent seized control again while his parasite was distracted, and sidestepped it instead of the somersault that Galian had been about to use, throwing the specimen that had been attacking him at the arm. Its weight drove the clawed arm wide, leaving Hojo open to attack. Vincent, controlling the Galian body, put his full weight behind the attack, combining bestial strength with Turk trained precision to shatter Hojo's arm at the point where flesh met scales. Hojo screamed and collapsed. His modified arm was useless if he couldn't raise it. The claw suddenly disintegrated, leaving the Professor open to attack.

As Vincent moved in for the kill, his Galian body lost the last of its strength and dissolved, leaving him back in his human shape, incredibly drained. Hojo smiled.

"So close, and yet so far. What a shame."

Vincent smiled. "You think so?" He drew Hojo's handgun from its holster before its owner could react, and was halfway through his infamous torture method, the Valentine Shuffle, when he heard noises behind him. Turning, he saw seven first class SOLDIER spilling into the room. At this point, SOLDIER were elite through training and skill as opposed to genetic modifications as they would come to be, but they were still extremely dangerous.

"You think you can match me?" Valentine asked softly, with the Beast in his eyes and voice if not currently in his body. Some of the SOLDIERs took a step back. But only some of them. Just before his world dissolved in white hot pain from their simultaneous attacks, he heard the leader say, somewhat amused "Yes. We do."


	6. TifaThief target v Yuffie

_I decided to kill two birds with one stone here and do two challenges with the same chapter, namely Tifa v Yuffie and Yuffie v thief target. I hope you don't mind sharing?_

**Challenge 4-Tifa/Thief target v Yuffie**

Yuffie smiled to herself as she walked over to the Materia chest. Forgotten in the events that followed, it had just lain there, and now that Sephiroth was re-killed, it was hers. Nobody had remembered it except her –nobody had even thought to ask her where she'd gotten that armful of materia she'd offered to Cloud. So all she had to do was go to the Forgotten City and there it was –Materia that's cumulative selling price would bring Wutai back to its feet. The chest had been locked, naturally, but that was nothing to a professional ninja. Especially one of her tal-

"Hi."

She looked up. Tifa was leaning against a building, watching her.

"Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I came to collect the materia. You?"

"Same. I'd have thought Cloud would have done that."

"Yeah, well...he has a lot on his mind, what with being stabbed, shot and blown up in the space of ten minutes. I'm sure once he's capable of travel he'll come here, but I thought I'd make sure."

"...right. Will I bring it, since I'm here?"

Tifa looked amused. "What, you mean the materia hunter who stole all of it before?"

"...I'm not being greedy, y'know. Wutai's been devastated by the wars, and I'm trying to bring it back to prosperity. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you stop me."

"Well, we'll need it the next time some megalomaniac decides to destroy the world, so I'm not backing down either."

"How likely is that to happen?"

"Considering what's happened over the last while? Probably certain."

"So what happens now? Duel to the death?"

"Or you could surrender."

"Not gonna happen!"

"Your loss."

They both leapt.

It was more like an exhibition match than a duel. Although they'd said it was a 'Duel to the death' , neither of them was aiming to kill. Their mutual styles were showy, trying to impress their opponent into backing down, working in as many unnecessary somersaults as possible into their sparring. A flying kick was met with a somersaulting slash that was sidestepped and countered with a vicious punch combo that was dodged by a somersaulting leap that landed Yuffie behind Tifa, leading to an exchange that saw a Shuriken swipe whistling past Tifa's ear countered by a blocked spinning kick, the force of which nonetheless sent Yuffie tumbling back into the lake behind her, landing on her feet in knee deep water in time to duck under a weird wrestling move that didn't have a name as far as either of them knew. Yuffie came up under her with an upward swipe that was avoided by a handstand to avoid being cut that left her head underwater in an intended to be brief interval, but Yuffie wrapped her arms around Tifa's head and tried to hold it where it was. Tifa's feet came down heavily on her shoulders, driving her to her knees with a splash. Flipping herself upright, Tifa attempted to get in a few jabs en route, but Yuffie leaned back enough to avoid this, knees still on the lake bed but leaned back with her hands touching the lake bed as well, after the jabs had passed somehow back flipping upright from that position so they ended up facing each other. A flurry of open handed swipes, Wutai style, drove Yuffie back towards the land, and a low to the ground cross kick had her jumping to avoid it. She landed while the leg was still outstretched and caught it between her feet, trying to twist it and break an ankle, but Tifa spun in the air gracefully following her foot, her free leg lashing out and forcing Yuffie to drop back, somersaulting ashore, followed quickly by Tifa, who forced her back out along the paths to the edge of the city, where an unlucky kick resulted in her leg being grabbed and her body being slammed into a tree. Yuffie thrust forward with her Shuriken as a follow up, but Tifa recovered quickly and leapt the blade, leading to the Shuriken being embedded in the tree trunk. Coming down, Tifa actually ended up standing on the centre of the Shuriken, a snap kick hitting Yuffie in the forehead, breaking her nose if she hadn't ducked. Yuffie was knocked back, her hand still on the Shuriken meaning her momentum tore the blades free of the tree, robbing Tifa of her platform, one of the blades slicing through Tifa's shoe and cutting her foot slightly as she leapt down. Yuffie had her back to a tree, and a kick intended for her thudded into the trunk as she leapt into the branches. Tifa followed, and a straightforward _Matrix_ style duel suddenly had _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon _elements.

If it was possible, the speed of the action increased up in the trees. If Cloud, Sephiroth, Kadaj and Vincent had been up there, they would've been knocked cold in seconds. Dodging a cross slash, Tifa ducked around the main trunk and came out behind Yuffie, who grabbed a branch above her and swung around on it, ending up behind Tifa, who leapt and a Shuriken thrust splintered the branch she'd been standing on, snapping it off the tree entirely. Looking up, Yuffie dodged aside from a fist that hit the main trunk of the tree hard enough to leave an imprint of the hand embedded in the bark of the tree. The tree ran out of branches before the fighters ran out of energy, and they ended up somersaulting to another one. On their fifth tree, a rotten branch spilled them both onto the ground, returning to duel to more terrestrial climes. Eventually, they fought their way back to the city centre, where Cid's airship was loading the materia chest. He helpfully gave them each a lift home.


	7. Sephiroth v Bahamut

_Sorry this took so long. It was trickyto write Bahamut, since he can't really wound anyone without killing them. How'm I doing so far? My favourite so far has been Vince/Hojo._

**Challenge...6? Sephiroth v Bahamut**

Sephiroth landed heavily on the floating rock, then turned in time to skewer Zack as he materialized from the lifestream. Zack dissolved into Lifestream Threads, leaving Sephiroth briefly alone on his rock to catch his breath.

He sighed. According to Jenova, it would be easier for him to take possession of his Clones, the nearer he was to them physically, therefore the more energy he would have to maintain his form once he succeeded. This meant leaving his territorial haunts at the Northern Cave, where the delicate natural balance meant that the planet couldn't risk any major conflict for fear of warping the healing process and endangering itself, unless the conflict was absolutely necessary. So he was relatively safe there. But here, once he'd left the Crater, the Planet was throwing everything it had at him.

When he was directly swimming in Lifestream currents, the Planet tried to drown him in knowledge, until his consciousness lost all coherence and his poor Mako drenched mind dissolved into Lifestream threads. He'd discovered that by sheltering around the rocks that were occasionally carried in the Streams, he the knowledge was deflected, and the planet had to produce something substantial, something _real_, to challenge him. Hence Zack. Very few beings were able to prevent themselves being swallowed and dispersed in the currents of the Lifestreams, so the planet had limited options with which to attack. Here, you couldn't kill anything, but the threads that made up Zack's consciousness had been dispersed, and it'd take him days to reform himself. As he left the safety of the rock to brave the currents once more, he wondered what the planet would throw at him next. It didn't have much time before he arrived at his destination, and then he'd be beyond its reach, so whatever came next would be formidable.

The planet screamed, but not from pain as it usually did. Had Bugenhagen still had a corporeal form, he might perhaps have detected the note of frustration in the sound. Calamity's Servant had proved irritatingly resilient, dispersing all the Planet's defenders that she could spare from ensuring the Cycle of Souls was not disrupted by the Stigma.

**IT EXPOSES MY WEAKNESS.**** YET AGAIN. THIS CANNOT BE ENDURED.**

As she despaired, and wished for Omega to arrive so she could be spared this struggle with such an insect, a new soul came to her attention, a golden opportunity. Ironically, it had been slain by her guardians among her pathetic skin disease that had brought her to the brink of collapse before. But she was not one to turn down such a gift, regardless of the means. Quickly, before it could be dispersed, she carefully preserved it, instructed it, and (metaphorically) sat back to watch the show. The Calamity would be severely inconvenienced if her Servant was destroyed.

Bahamut was not having a good day. First, he'd been summoned, and told to attack a statue. A statue! Of a hunk of rock! That was just demeaning. Wanting to make the most of his time out of his home (Cloud preferred to spend time waving a pathetic metal stick around as opposed to summon a perfectly good eidolon to blast obstacles aside instantly), he'd done some light rampaging on the side, just to stretch his wings. Perfectly normal.

But, apparently, that statue was important to a lot of people for some reason, because he'd suddenly found himself attacked on all sides. He'd have brought down any one of them instantly, but eight? They were lining up to bring him down.

Of course, the worst thing about the past while was that he'd been killed. He hadn't even realized that was possible for an eidolon. He missed his materia. Badly. So when the planet found him, freshly killed, and told him to go attack some guy with a sword, he was happy to oblige. Dragons are colour blind, and Sephiroth had a similar smell to the man who'd killed him. That was enough.

The Lifestream is powerful, but delicate. Sephiroth felt the disturbance of Bahamut approaching long before he could see an attacker. As such, he was already leaping away before Bahamut had raised his claw to split the rock he had been perched on in half. Not yet prepared to leave his sanctuary, Sephoiroth's mental barriers were not fully restored, and he was instantly battered by a wave of Mako drenched knowledge that swept him along mercilessly in its tides. His barriers kept his consciousness intact from the first wave, but they were cracking under the strain and he couldn't last long.

It was Bahamut that saved him. The creature's huge bulk, coming in for a follow up attack, disrupted the Lifestream's flow and weakened the assault against his barriers, returning him to coherence with about a millisecond to react to being devoured by the dragon. He barely avoided having his head bitten off, and was carried backwards, slammed against another floating rock with enough force to crack ribs. As the dragon drew back for a second charge, Sephiroth seized a nearby Lifestream thread, manipulating the knowledge contained therein into a Fire2 that vanished down Bahamut's throat. It did about as much damage to the dragon as a hot drink to a human tongue, but Bahamut nevertheless arched his neck in pain, allowing Sephiroth to get in under him, grab the top of his neck and vault up, landing between the dragon's shoulder blades. The updraught from the wingbeats made it almost impossible to maintain his perch, but he stayed there long enough to repair his mental barriers and thrust his sword down between two armour plates. He was aiming to sever the spine, but Bahamut twisted his neck at the wrong moment, and the sword missed its target. Sephiroth slid off the dragon's back, only just managing to yank his sword free at the last moment. Immediately he was far enough away from the dragon, the lifestream resumed its assault, but this time he was ready, and the assaults slid off his barriers. A Megaflare was a more pressing concern, roaring past a few feet to his left, vaporizing a chunk of the floating lump of rock he'd so recently been slammed against. Somersaulting up to the top of it, he took a moment to reinforce his barriers and take his bearings.

He was standing on a long, thin rectangular rock marked not unlike a basketball court or rugby pitch. Several skeletal Ancient Cetran warriors materialized out of the ground, and he realized that this lump of rock was a trap set by the planet. As the first warriors advanced, a clarion roar from behind reminded him that he still had an angry eidolon behind him, and he turned to see what he could do about it.

As Bahamut cleared the edge of the rock, Sephiroth, crouched just out of sight at the edge, jumped up to meet him. Even for Bahamut, a six foot sword rammed into his left eye should have been a fatal wound. But Lifestream threads flowed into him, strengthening him, sustaining him. And in order to reach his eyes, Sephiroth had had to jump across the front of his mouth.

The Megaflare at minimal charging time blasted Sephiroth halfway across the floating rock, finally rolling to a stop just in front of the main knot of Ancient Cetran Warriors. The Masamune had left his hand with the impact, landing just short of the edge of the rock back the way he'd come. Staggering upright, Sephiroth found a length of chain wrapped around his head from behind. Firing a Fire2 over his shoulder, he disintegrated his attacker, jerking aside just as another Megaflare conveniently obliterated most of the rest. With his new weapon, he turned, aware that Bahamut was closing fast behind him. One Cetran had survived, this one dressed as a magician. Cetran warriors were not the best in existence, but their magicians were unsurpassed. And this one had just cast a Gradual Petrify on Sephiroth, who could feel his body getting heavier. He lunged desperately for the magician, unarmed. His desperate lunge skated off the edge of a Barrier, and he ended up rolling over it and landing behind his target. As the mage turned, Bahamut bit off its head from behind, his raw strength easily crushing the Barrier. The mage dissolved into lifestream threads, and Sephiroth lunged for them, knowing his only other weapon was well beyond his reach. Seizing one, he rolled upright in time to receive a backhand strike from Bahamut's claw that sent him flying. He maintained his grip on the Lifestream thread, despite being barely capable of maintaining a physical body, and as Bahaumut charged him down an Ultima hit him head on. The dragon screamed but kept coming, and despite his best efforts Sephiroth was soon flat on his back, one huge claw pinning him down, while Bahamut charged a Megaflare to obliterate him with. Just before he released it, Bahamut was hit at close range in the face by a second Ultima. Even with the planet's aid, he couldn't maintain a physical form under that much punishment and dissolved into lifestream threads. As the Planet screamed its frustration, Sephiroth stood up, a touch unsteadily. Then Jenova's summons reached him

**Sephiroth! It's time!**

As exhausted as he was, he started running towards where his Masamune lay, knowing if he couldn't manifest it materially he couldn't survive his new life long. Just as he reached, it, his world dissolved.

As the pain of reasserting his existence overwhelmed him, he made adjustments to his new body and stood up. For a heartstopping instant, he thought that the sword had failed to make the transition, but it materialized just in time to stop him being cut in half by an impact from above.

"Good to see you." he told the sword, and then, looking up, added "Cloud." And he meant that too. He'd take the puppet over Bahamut any day.


	8. Nero v Rosso

No more challenges for the moment, folks

_No more challenges for the moment, folks. I'm backlogged._

** Challenge7: Nero v Rosso**

"Nine hundred and ninety eight..." Rosso muttered, beheading a soldier who had almost successfully raised his weapon. A second, more heavily armoured soldier, slashed at her with a sword, just catching with the flat and sending her spinning to one side. Somersaulting upright, she emptied her clip into the swordfighter's face as he tried to close the distance. He staggered but didn't fall. Reloading mid somersault, she drove her blade into his shoulder from behind. He dropped the sword, but an armoured fist hammered her into the ground. Rolling aside from the follow up, she came up, weapon in hand, and slashed her opponent's throat. He collapsed in a fountain of blood. "Nine hundred and ninety nine..." Rosso grimaced. She usually tried to avoid unnecessary spilling of blood. Such a waste.

Turning, she looked up just a bullet clipped her skull, an inch away from a fatal hit. She was actually stunned by the impact, dropping to the ground in a heap. Rising, she saw the soldier on a ledge nearby, rifle raised for a second shot. He was well out of range of any physical assault or bullet strike she could create. She had no cover and given the accuracy of his first shot, he was unlikely to miss.

The red projectile hit him in the side of the head just as he fired. The bullet hit her in the shoulder, a stinging wound, but the soldier did not get up.

Rosso smiled. "One thousand." Most of the DG soldiers, the ones that had been grown by Shinra, would not fight her no matter what she did to them, but the ones that had been merely kidnapped and conditioned retained some survival instincts, and she'd found fifty in her slaughter that would fight back if attacked. Her hand went up to the wound in her forehead, so close to fatal. Sometimes, the fight could be quite substantial. There had only been fifty of them, but she was covered in small wounds and a few serious ones. As a Tsviet, her flesh had already started to close, but she'd still had quite enough combat for one day. Shrugging, she started dragging away the corpses. It'd be hard work, but there was little point in wasting such quality.

_Later..._

Rosso stood on the diving board above a massive swimming pool, looking down. The ruined home had once belonged to one of Midgars more prosperous inhabitants, long since gutted and abandoned. So she'd taken it for herself. If the owner wished to claim it, Rosso would be more than happy to accommodate her. She'd only chosen it for the pool.

Launching herself in a flat dive, she hit the surface gracefully in a splash of red. The blood, laced with anti-congealant, was so much more pleasurable than water or liquid Mako. Still warm, it caressed her with the life it had previously held.

Surfacing, she realized that Nero was standing at the edge of the pool, watching her. Trying not to panic or flounder, she made her way to the edge, noticing that swirly black currents of Darkness were flickering into being around the room. Nero regarded her with his face completely impassive.

"Tell me...why is it you kill our allies?"

"We don't need them."

"Do we not? Powerful as we are, Rosso, the Tsviets are not immortal. Azul is vulnerable in the wrong circumstances, as is Shelke. We two are more resilient, yet only my darkness is truly impregnable-and even it has its faults. We need the lesser soldiers, Rosso. And you have crippled our forces. All of Deepground is few, and it is better if every soldier who dies serves a purpose. Those who slay each other needlessly need to be punished."

Although she would never admit it even to herself, Rosso began to panic after that ominous statement.

"You need me!"

"True...but do I need you more than a thousand DG soldiers? Or would you have me have you attack the W.R.O. headquarters alone?"

"If necessary."

Nero laughed. "Perhaps. And yet...you should not go unpunished. A thousand soldiers is a significant portion of our forces. You have one chance. Come with me."

Nero stepped outside the building into Midgar City. Rosso followed, nervously, aware that if he wanted her destroyed, she had no defense against his darkness.

"You pride yourself on your speed, Rosso? Let us see." A beacon flared on top of the Shinra building in the centre of the city, not too far from where they now stood but not in the building's shadow either.

"Prove that you are still worthy of the name Tsviet. You have twenty minutes to reach that beacon before it goes out. If you do so successfully, I will not consume you. I will be watching." He dissolved in Darkness, and she instantly began running to Shinra building, aware that he was well capable of carrying out his threat.

She reached the base of the building easily within the time allotted, and with the elevator long since inactive, she was forced to enter through the side door and climb 60 flights of stairs, aware she was losing time. The stairs had been damaged when it had been hit by Weapon, with broken and weakened steps and banisters making ascent hazardous, and she was forced to slow down for safety, Tsviet-bred endurance keeping her moving long after any mere mortal would have collapsed. At the top of the 60th floor, she was met by two full clips from Nero, who of course had flown up far ahead of her. The bullets sparked off her armour, but she staggered and she was knocked back down one flight of stairs. Vaulting upright, she returned to the door at a run to find a stopwatch with seven minutes remaining and a note that read:

**Did you really think it was going to be that easy?**

**-Nero the Sable**

Darkness rose up from the ground either side of her. She lunged forward as they converged, just avoiding trailing tendrils. The darkness raced along beside her, and she just managed to reach the next floor before it cut her off. It wasn't moving quite as quickly as Nero could make it. He was testing her. This could be interesting.

Most of the internal structure of the Shinra building was steel (Mythril was too valuable for widespread use now that the Mythril mine was exhausted), but some of the internal walls were added later than the initial structure, and to save costs, were made from plaster made to look like steel. Nero burst out of one of these walls now, spinning towards her with bladed wings at thigh height. The ambush caught her completely by surprise, but she got her blade down in time to block the spinning swipe, shearing off one of the blades of his wings. He vanished into his darkness, and she kept running as his darkness fought to reach her. Two floors up, Nero made another personal appearance, shooting at her from the end of a stretch of corridor -_and_ two feet to her left and right. He vanished as she tried to swipe at two of him while shooting at the third, laughing. He made frequent appearances further up the building, staying long enough to present a target, then vanishing. After a time, she realized that these were inconveniences designed to slow her down and henceforth ignored them, until both stairway up to the President's office were blocked off by his Darkness. Frustrated, convinced Nero was cheating, she glanced at the stopwatch. Fifty seconds left.

Red Crescents ( Author's note: I don't know if those things have a name, but I like the one I'm using, so ha!) smashed the few surviving windows in the Shinra building, and her desperate leap reached the President's office.

"I won, Nero!" she shrieked.

"Not yet..." the whisper reached her "you're on the top floor, not the top of the building..."

Sprinting out onto the balcony, she was hit by twin balls of darkness in the back, catapulting her over the balcony outside the office. One hand, then two, caught the rim, but she was promptly forced to change her grip as bladed wings struck sparks where her hands had been. Heaving herself over the balcony before he could strike again, her body hit Nero in the knees as she rolled over the edge of the balcony. Weapon in hand, she tried to hamstring him, but a small square of darkness, perhaps two inches wide, swallowed her blade and raced up towards her hands. She had to let go to avoid being consumed, and suddenly realized quite how outmatched she was. He'd been playing with her the whole time.

Now weaponless, she bolted towards the beacon in blind panic. As Nero rose to follow her, a Red Crescent hit him in the side of the head, and he dropped like a stone. Screaming a victory clarion she bolted towards the beacon, knowing that wouldn't delay him long. The stopwatch telling her she had four seconds left, she tried one last desperate dive, her hand closing on the beacon just before it went out. But the steel roof of Shinra building was slippery with moisture (as this height, there was always moisture), and her dive carried her over the back of the building and into empty air. As she drew breath to scream, Nero caught her wrist. He brought her back onto the President's balcony and let her drop. Hitting the steel floor hard, she rose to face him, determined to face her consumption with dignity as he summoned his darkness around her. Reaching into a pool of darkness to his left, Nero withdrew her weapon and tossed it to her.

"You lost this. Congratulations, Rosso. You live another day. But know this. If you kill one more of my soldiers, nothing will save you. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Good. You can make your own way down." He vanished into darkness, leaving her with seventy floors to descend in time to catch the invasion force leaving.


	9. Zack v Sephiroth

**Challenge 8**

If there was one thing Sephiroth hated about the Lifestream, -beyond the fact that it invariably tried to kill him whenever he gave it the chance- it was the sheer monotony of the place. After his latest attempt to leave the Lifestream had been cut short by Cloud-largely due to his own cockiness- he was heading back to the safer regions of it to the north when the flashes of colour caught his eye. Bemused by the discovery-normally, the only distractions on his journeys was the graffiti he'd left scratched into the floating rocks with the tip of his sword on previous journeys (normally along the lines of 'If you can read this, you're probably me, and haven't gotten out of the Lifestream yet. Please do so. If you are not me, the same sentiments apply.' So this unusual fact (as well as the belief that he'd killed everything the Lifestream could throw at him on his way to the revival) possibly resulted in him deviating from his usual route in order to investigate.

As it turned out, the flashes of colour were flowers. A massive, unending flower field, formed in the middle of the Lifestream. Since this was clearly impossible, he was about to move on when he spotted the girl in the pink dress standing in the centre. For second, he couldn't remember where he'd seen her before (so many killing sprees, so little time) but he eventually realised this and silently dropped down behind her. At this point, he realised that a) this was clearly a trap, and b), he couldn't kill her anyway.

"I know you know I'm here, Cetra girl." (her name still escaped him).

As he said this, telekinetic waves expanded outwards and flattened every flower in the field. Zack, diligently sneaking up behind him, somersaulted over his head to avoid them, landing with just enough time to block the strike he'd since sent towards Cetra girl in front of him.

"I'll leave you to it, shall I?" the Cetra asked, dissolving herself in Lifestream threads before either swordfighter could respond.

"Hello Zack."

"Sephiroth."

"Why bother blocking that? The worst I can do is inconvenience her."

"It's the principle. Allowing your girlfriend to be impaled is not conducive to a lasting relationship. Women remember little things like that."

"...true, true. So...you going to try kill me?"

"Yep."

"The traditional response to that is to say 'I'm not going to try. I'm going to succeed.'"

"Well, after you're dead for a few years, you start to get rusty with those kind of things."

"I know. Did you _hear _what I said to Cloud?"

"Well... 'I will never be a memory' wasn't _that _bad..."

"Well...now we have a good opportunity to practice, right?"

Zack laughed. And his sword came around in a vicious cross-slash that came close to disembowelling his target, who responded with a potentially hamstringing thrust, a near dangerous miss that forced Zack to step back, batting aside the follow up. Mutual backward somersaults then left them twenty feet apart, in the perfect position to practice some repartee. They exchanged embarrassed shrugs.

"Y'know, I really can't think of anything right now..."

"Well, it does seem a little...awkward. Anything happen since I last saw you?"

"Y'mean since I skewered you earlier on today? Tried to get out of the Lifestream-failed. Miserably. Through stupid cockiness, just like the last two times."

"Sounds familiar."

"Didn't stop me beating you in about five seconds in Nibel Reactor, though."

"_There's _your taunt instinct coming back."

"Mmm."

"It terrified generations of Shinra recruits."

"Good times."

"Yeah. Do you remember that soccer match in no-man's land with the Wutaiens?"

"Of course! There was no _way_ I was offside, that was a ridiculous decision!"

"Heheheh."

**Stop chatting! **the planet screamed suddenly, cutting them off.

"You're the boss" Zack said, grinning, and unleashed a vicious flurry of attacks that drove Sephiroth halfway across the flower field, desperately batting aside the frenzied assault that sought to disperse him.

"New Limit Break?" Sephiroth asked, when he finally had time to speak. The question was accompanied by a counterattack that sent Zack retreating some of the distance he'd gained, but not all of it. Zack defended himself much more ably than Sephiroth remembered.

"Nope. That's just me, concentrating." Parry, sidestep, backstep, counter.

"Impossible. You were never anywhere near that fast." Duck, upthrust, advance.

"Lifestream enhancements, like what Cloud got. Good, huh?" An overhand slash suddenly became a horizontal swipe at the base of the rib cage with a twist of the wrists.

"You should be destroying me. Lifestream enhancements where the planet is most powerful, with the full power of the planet behind you, should be no match for me. The fact that you haven't skewered me yet highlights the insignificance of your own abilities." Backward leap, sidestep, spin, thrust.

"How does it feel to be upstaged by Cloud, my Puppet?" Advance, low slash, block, backstep.

"He's done a good job of cutting your strings. I'm happy for him." Backstep, spinslash, somersault, vertical slice. This last almost gave Sephiroth a kill, but Zack threw himself forward in time and escaped with only gashed armour. Rolling upright, his counterattack also came close to a kill, as Sephiroth almost walked into an unexpected reverse thrust.

"Happy for him? Not jealous? That Cetra girl seems to spend a lot of time looking after him, no?" Backstep, sidestep, backstep, block.

"He's the Planet's best Weapon. Much more effective than the massive monster versions." Step, feint, kick, slash.

"True. Those just prevented Shinra from creating any sort of coordinated response against me. Although he helped there, too. But why does your Cetra girl seem so intent on him joining her in the Lifestream. Appearing to him while he's riding a bike at 120kmph through dense forest while he's being shot at, for example." Block, parry, duck, backtep, backstep, backstep.

"How do you know when he's being appeared to?" Sidestep, jump, parry, backstep.

"I lived in his head all during the Meteorfall affair. I know how to get in." Zack's thrust slipped through his defence, but skated harmlessly off a shoulder guard. The counterattack left Zack with a shallow gash to the thigh that healed quickly as his Lifestream enhancements went to work.

"Does it bother you, Zack, that she gets to appear multiple times to him? You appeared corporeally once, and you didn't even get to speak." Backstep, backstep, backstep, backstep.

"Instead, Zack, you got to _wave._ Does that seem unfair to you? I think you have a fight on your hands when the Puppet finally does get down here. What you're doing is keeping her occupied while she waits."

By this stage, Sephiroth had been driven to the edge of the flower field, and they started leaping from rock to rock in the true Lifestream. Threads of Cetra knowledge were suddenly at their disposal, and Sephiroth got in a direct hit with an Ice3. Zack vanished. Leaping to the place he'd last seen him, Sephiroth was surprised by a hilt smash to the head from behind, staggering him. His elbow came back and snapped Zack's head back, breaking his nose. Trying to turn, the flat of the Zack's blade swept his feet out from under him, and before he could react he was slammed against a floating rock with a blade to his throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Zack proclaimed, smiling "I'd like to introduce the winner of the Mr. Overconfidence of the year award, Generalllll Sephirothhhh Crescennnt!"

Sephiroth smiled. "I'd like to thank the academy." Even Zack was forced to laugh as he continued. "I'd also like to remember my family, Jen, Jo, and the triplets, for making this possible and supporting me all the way, Heidegger and Scarlet for not being here, President Shinra for being dead, and Cloud for being so entertaining, like a good Puppet should be. Lastly, I'd like to say a special word of appreciation to _you, _Zack-" A telekinetic bolt with all the force Sephiroth could summon hit Zack in the chest, blasting him backwards into the side of another floating rock. Masamune, flung like a javelin, nailed him there. "-for giving me this excellent opportunity to practice my taunts and allowing me to make this speech instead of skewering me instantly."

Zack was still writhing on the blade as his Lifestream enhancements fought to keep his shell intact, trying vainly to heal the gaping wound. As Sephiroth stepped closer, Zack met his eyes, for an instant.

"...Nice...speech..." he managed, before dissolving into Lifestream threads. Sephiroth considered.

"I'm not losing my touch, it seems" he noted, before yanking out his sword and continuing on his way.


	10. Red XIII v Capturers

**Challenge 9**

Perched atop a crag above the road, Nanaki surveyed his territory, and the lorry which was invading it. Lately, there had been a lot of activity there as the Shinra research facility in Nibelheim took deliveries for use in the war. Traffic between Junon and Nibelheim had increased dramatically, despite Cosmo Canyon's neutral status. The ignominy of this could not be ignored.

Bugenhagen had counseled him against this reckless action, stating that Shinra's Science department was itching for an excuse to get their hands on the last Canyonite. As it was, his Grandfather protected him only by claiming that he needed Nanaki for his research, citing the Canyonite race's close connection to the planet and long memories. But Nanaki would rather endure captivity than see his ancestral territories profaned, and, so, this once, he was ignoring his Grandfather's wishes.

The lorry drew closer, close enough for Nanaki to identify the smaller insignia below the Shinra logo. His rage intensified. The lorry belonged to Shinra's science department, the most abhorrent of all the degenerate company's divisions, in which the Planet and Lifestream's designs were twisted and corrupted beyond all recognition by machines powered by the very Lifeblood of the Planet, for no good reason other than to destroy others in horrific ways, simply on the whim of the Department Head, Hojo. And they _dared _to encroach on his territories! Bugenhagen had expressly forbidden unescorted Science department personnel on Canyon soil, largely, it must be said, to avoid them kidnapping Nanaki. Still, this was a tremendous breach of boundaries, on that shamed generations of Canyonites that once had held this ground sacred.

Nanaki's spring hit the side of the lorry hard enough that the steel side visibly buckled inward, the impact sending it rolling sideways towards the edge of the ledge that the road had been cut into. It teetered for an instant on the edge, two wheels out over emptiness, and in what was an incredible reaction for a human, an armoured soldier burst out through the door facing the cliff, dragging behind him an unarmed companion in Science department uniform. Behind them, the lorry lost its battle to stay upright and toppled over the cliff, hitting rock two hundred feet below and spectacularly exploding on impact. In the instant between the humans landing on the cliff and looking around, Nanaki was crouched behind a rock.

"What the hell just happened?" a voice said, understandably shaken.

"Rockslide? I have no idea." There was a click of a gun being readied for ambush.

"There's no rocks around..."

A pause.

"What are we going to do now?"

"Not much. Hojo's going to crucify us."

"No hope of throwing ourselves on his mercy?"

"Mercy? What mercy? He's a Shinra Executive."

"...Good point."

"And we just lost six of his most valuable specimens!" By now, the researcher's voice was slightly hysterical over his fate.

"Not his _most _valuable. His most valuable ride around in the back of vans and wear uniforms just like the rest of us." The soldier sounded mostly resigned, but a hint of disgust crept into his voice as he spoke.

"So? We're still going to be crucified."

Nanaki took the risk of raising his head. Both humans were standing at the brink of the precipice, staring despondently down at the wreckage of their transport. He padded silently forward, preparing to spring.

"Yup." A sigh. Then "Hey, one of the specimen's survived the fall!" A burst of machine gun fire. "That's better."

"Why did you do that?"

"We're dead anyway. I'd prefer to die denying Hojo six specimens than five." The soldier lowered his weapon to reload it, and Nanaki sprang.

In his advance, he'd been focusing mostly on the armoured soldier as the main threat, and as such, he failed to notice the researcher turning away from the spectacle below just before Nanaki sprang. The researcher's desperate dive almost sent his bodyguard over the edge of the cliff, but succeeded in knocking him aside from Nanaki's lunge. Deprived of a target, Nanaki twisted frantically in mid air and dug his front claws into the rock, saving himself a fatal fall, but leaving him extremely vulnerable as his hind claws scrabbled frantically for purchase against the cliff walls. This activity was not made easier by the Shinra soldier standing up and sighting his weapon between the Canyonite's eyes as he dangled.

"So you're the reason we went over the cliff. Move, and I empty my magazine into your skull, understand?"

"I don't think it understands..." the researcher noted uncertainly.

"He's a Canyonite. He understands. They're probably more intelligent than us."

"Probably?" Nanaki asked derisively "I think you overestimate yourselves." His back claws found some grip in the cliff wall, but spiderweb cracks were spreading from where his front claws were dug in. Soon, he'd break the rock and it'd break off, bringing him with it. He couldn't hang here long. He now had enough grip to climb back, but if he tried, the soldier would fire.

The Fire spell caught the soldier by surprise, doing little damage but automatically causing him to bring his hands up to shield his face. In the opportunity this granted, Nanaki sprang. The spring really should have killed the soldier, but Nanaki was concentrating on getting back on solid ground, so instead merely slammed into the soldier, knocking him over backwards. The momentum of the spring carried him too far, and he rolled upright a few feet beyond his opponent. Readying himself for another spring, he was forced to dance aside from a burst of bullets fired blindly in his direction by the still prone soldier, who used the respite to rise to one knee and turn. Leaping before the soldier could fire again, Nanaki was met by a strike upwards with the gun's handle that hit him in the jaw, snapping his head up and propelling him over the soldier's head, landing behind him again and being fired on as he turned.

Now having gained a measure of respect for each other, human and Canyonite circled, each waiting for the other to make the first move. An opportunity was offered to Nanaki as the soldier stumbled over a loose rock. He declined to take it. They circled some more.

"You've fought my people before?" Nanaki asked after a time, not dropping his guard for an instant. This soldier knew what to expect from his attack-every time he crouched to spring, he was pre-empted by a burst of bullets that forced him to dodge aside without attacking.

"No." his opponent replied, equally focused, "but I've spoken to those who have, and you're not that different from fighting a Guard Hound."

"I am not some tame dog, human! My ancestors were valued allies of the Cetra, who were the keepers of this world. Our race is far superior to your own."

"Oh yeah? Then how come we're not the ones dying out?"

Nanaki sprang, this time without a warning crouch. His adversary reflexively pulled the trigger, but what emerged from the barrel was not bullets but a jet of gas which enveloped Nanaki in mid air. For an instant he felt himself getting drowsy, but he'd already sprung, and he knocked over the armoured soldier again, colliding heavily, the split second of deadened reflexes enough that he was unable to use claws or teeth to kill. Both fighters rose again. This time, Nanaki was ready for the cloud of gas and simply held his breath as it jetted past him. He was not ready for the blast of the grenade, which, thrown while the gas impaired Nanaki's vision, knocked Nanaki over yet again. Crucially, this time the soldier was still upright, and instead of the previous wild, blind burst came a clinical single shot that hit Nanaki in the shoulder joint as he was getting up-the first wound he'd taken, but a decisive one that robbed him of much of the agility and speed he'd previously used to his advantage. The next burst hit him in the chest, and suddenly blood was soaking through his fur. He managed to roll aside from the next shots, and countered with his Fire materia, leaving his adversary with a minor injury to his forearm.

Impressively, the Shinra wasn't taking anything for granted and remained alert, keeping his distance and keeping his weapon focused on the Canyonite. Nanaki, now moving through a wall of pain, avoided the next burst as well, but he could feel himself weakening. Fortunately, the Shinra had clicked empty with the last burst, which gave him a small respite. He considered flight, but dismissed it instantly. Now that he'd been seen, Shinra had the perfect excuse to take him away from Grandfather. He had to kill the soldier and his researcher friend or he'd be taken anyway. Staggering upright, he forced himself to run.

Looking up, the Shinra soldier saw the Canyonite bearing down on him, eyes hazy with pain, but all the more dangerous for that. The civilian researcher emptied a low caliber handgun into it from behind, but the Canyonite hardly noticed. Delaying his reloading, he fired a jet of gas. Nanaki, gasping with pain, couldn't help inhaling some of it, but fought the drowsiness that threatened to envelop him and kept running. A burst of bullets hit him again, but he kept running. The Shinra didn't get the chance to fire again. The spring, not as graceful as the ones preceding it, knocked the soldier over backwards again, losing his gun as he attempted to keep Nanaki's jaws from his throat. Claws digging furrows in the armour as he sought to penetrate, Nanak struggled. Trying to get a grip on Nanaki's headdress to throw him off, the Shinra almost sliced his own hand off. This gave Nanaki an advantage, but one that he quickly lost as a kick to the ribs forced the breath from his lungs. As he weakened as the gas took effect, the Shinra began fighting back. An elbow in the side of the head was dizzying, and then he almost choked on the rock shoved into his mouth. A punch in the throat followed. This last proved a mistake as Nanaki sank his teeth into the arm that delivered the punch until his teeth met on bone. Shrieking, the Shinra soldier thrashed wildly, but Nanaki didn't let go as blood drenched them both.

He could have won. So easily, he could have won. But he'd forgotten about the human researcher, who, though terrified had retrieved the soldier's lost weapon. He'd intended to shoot to kill, but had accidentally set it to Sleeping Gas feature propping it against a rock. Nanaki, his mouth necessarily open on his prey's arm, got a lungful of it and collapsed forward on top of the soldier. The last thing he remembered before waking up in the glass cage was voices, dimly heard just before he lost consciousness completely, discussing his fate.

"This guy's our ticket to life. Hojo's wanted him as a research specimen for years, we can use him to bargain for our lives."


	11. Yazoo v OC

_Sorry this's so late. I think I make Yazoo slightly too coherent to fit his character, but...Enjoy._

**Challenge 10:Yazoo vs Violet**

After escaping Shinra, Kadaj had realized that he and his remnants needed a base from which to began their search, somewhere to interrogate prisoners where they would be relatively safe. Midgar was ideal. Now a ghost town, the huge desolate city was easy to hide in, and the wreckage littering the streets meant that it was ideal for ambushes if, say, Big Brother called down the whole W.R.O. army on their heads. Which was why Yazoo found himself wandering a gutted but serviceable building with much of the shell still intact. He was slightly uneasy about being here -it had been one of Hojo's research stations, but navigated the dust coated machines with reasonable confidence. Most of them were by this stage broken and smashed, and Yazoo mostly ignored the few that looked intact. But, finally, one caught his eye, positioned on a viewing station above a large, thickly reinforced room with huge mythril and gold doors on the opposite side.

The machine that caught his eye looked not dissimilar to a vertical coffin, but bulkier, bound shut with steel. His interest aroused, Yazoo stepped closer, blowing dust off the metal plate set into the front.

**TIME MACHINE**

** -HIGHLY UNSTABLE!**

** DO **_**NOT**_** TOUCH UNDER**

** ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.**

For an instant, Yazoo found himself tempted. It would be much easier to find Mother if they were closer to her defeat. But then he came to his senses. Any time in which this would be any use to him might well be one where this research station was full of people. He had no desire to spend any more time any captivity, subject to Hojo's...games. This thought was powerful, and he backed away in a hurry-so fast, in fact, that his elbow triggered a lever on a console behind him. Light glowed behind the huge doors in the room below. Yazoo drew his guns and advanced to the edge of the platform just as the doors opened and a red robed woman fell out. Instantly scrambling to her feet, she had the rifle in hand and leveled before he could react.

"Where's the redhead?" the woman snarled, aim steady despite the weight of her weapon.

"Redhead?" Yazoo was genuinely mystified. He'd been expecting a 'Where am I?' Comments on hair colours were slightly disarming. But he didn't feel like contradicting someone pointing a gun at him.

"This place is abandoned?"

"Yes." He yawned. "It was a research station. What do you want?"

"Me? I was sucked through. High concentrations of Magicite do strange things. Got lost in the Lhusu mines, next thing I knew I was here." He had no clue what she was talking about and so didn't reply. There was a long silence. Then it occurred to him that he couldn't let her walk away and tell people where they were hiding –that would destroy any element of surprise they had, which Kadaj told him was very important. Dipping for his guns, he stepped off the ledge.

-

Elsewhere in the city, Loz and Kadaj –the brothers were never far apart- heard the shooting, too quick and urgent to be just their brother writing 'I was here' in bullet holes (even if Sephiroth clones did something so frivolous). If they had any doubts, these were crushed by the crack of the high powered rifle that followed. They started to run.

-

A rifle was a heavy and unwieldy weapon for aiming at a moving target at close range. Violet backed off, crouching behind one of the surviving steel tables and trying to get in a clear shot. Her first almost had him, but he was falling slightly too fast and the bullet sparked off the wall just above his head. And he was almost impossible to hit after that, moving far too fast, running along walls as well as ground and in general not making an easy target. She had to keep moving herself to avoid being shot by his bursts as he circled, and it was hard to fire accurately on the run.

Spinning in an effort to keep him in sight, she was caught by surprise when he suddenly closed the distance, jerking her head back as a bladed gun slashed her cheek. Too close to easily shoot, she lashed out instead with the barrel of her rifle, catching him across the temple and sending him tumbling to the side. Recovering immediately, he lunged at her again, directly into a Fira that sent him flying into the wall. Her bullet sparked off the barrel of the gun in his left hand without doing any damage, and, recovering, he fired a salvo forcing her to duck behind a table again.

"Where's your...materia?" he called, apparently confused, ducking behind a table himself as she re-emerged. "How can you use magic?" An Aero knocked him off his feet again, irrespective of the table he was behind, and she hit him with a Slow before he could rise which apparently he was completely unprepared for. It slowed him down, but only relatively speaking-he was still moving fast enough to be hard to target. She'd been lucky. He hadn't known about her magic. Now aware of it, he was more dangerous, even with the Slow. Rolling under the table, he escaped her Thundaga, emerging the other side to pepper her shoulders and head with bullets as she tried to drink what looked like a Hi-potion in the respite. One round hit the glass bottle, shattering it and slicing her hand to ribbons. As a consequence, she lost the rifle, and he closed, firing en route to keep her retreating, kicking the rifle into a corner as he reached it. But the Slow had robbed him of his best advantage –speed-and she hit him repeatedly with spells, backing away towards her rifle. He found the relative safety behind one of the tables and fired at her, forcing her away in order to seek cover. Ducking behind another table herself, she downed an Ether and tried to root him out. Most of her magic was absorbed by the table, leaving him relatively safe. A Bio got through, but only did minor damage. Meanwhile, he was shooting back, and a lucky ricochet lodged in her shoulder. Once the Slow wore off she'd be in big trouble.

Aware that time was on his side, she used precious Magic obliterating his cover with a Blizzaga. He escaped the worst, but couldn't escape being repeatedly cut by shards of ice that scattered all over the room. The table he hid behind was torn to pieces. But that had used up a lot of her magic. She couldn't do it again. A bullet hit her shin and she fell. Had he not clicked empty at that moment she'd probably have died. In the moment's respite, she hit him with a Blind. Fishing for Eye Drops with one hand, he fired with the other, gashing her forearm by sheer luck. Having healed himself, he dodged her desperate Water and raced for her as she dived for the rifle. He'd almost reached her when he slipped on a small shard of fast melting ice left over from the earlier Blizzaga. Successfully retrieving her weapon, she used the very last dregs of her magic to blast him back into the wall with an Aero, then sprinted in and brought the barrel of the rifle in up under his chin.

Yazoo opened his eyes. He wasn't much worried about his predicament. Partly because he almost never got excited about much, and partly because he didn't quite understand what was going on. But mostly because he could see Kadaj moving soundlessly up behind his aggressor, sword bared, while she had been talking to him.

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm...a remnant."

"Of what? This lab? Where's the guy with the lightning rod?"

"Ramuh?" Kadaj's blade touched the woman's throat.

"Hello. Could you step away from my brother, please?" Violet glanced around. Two more silver haired people had arrived, one bearing a sword, the other some kind of wrist attachment she wasn't familiar with, but had no doubt it would hurt. If the first she'd met was any indication, they'd know how to use them. She stepped away from her captive, but kept her rifle trained as they backed her towards the glowing portal she'd emerged from. Then Loz hit her, sending her flying back into the light. The Huge doors slammed shut behind her.

There was silence for a time. Then:

"Hey, Kadaj?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I want to have our base here."

"We'll find somewhere else. Lost, forgotten..."


	12. Cloud v Zack

_You can challenge me again now if you like. _

**Challenge 11 –Cloud v Zack**

The bike roared through the Sleeping Forest at more speed than was really advisable. Cloud had just delivered some sort of engine part to Icicle, and he wanted to get back home before night. He had a lot of compensating for lost time to do.

As always, passing through the Sleeping Forest evoked painful memories. A lot had happened to him here. But...it was also the place where he'd finally been healed of the uncertainty that had dogged him for years. He couldn't forget it. It wasn't as easy as that. But now he could finally try...not to move on, not to forget, but to...live...through the pain.

Later, he would note that driving a bike through dense forest at 110mph was not the best place to get lost in thought. It really wasn't surprising that he crashed headlong into a large tree in his path mid thought.

Fenrir didn't have seatbelts. He was thrown forwards and collided with the ancient, tough, thick trunk head first, and heard a crack. That alone was a serious enough injury, but the back of the bike then flipped up and crushed him against the tree just as he bounced off it. Everything went white.

When he opened his eyes, the familiar green currents with the floating rocks lay in front of him. He sat down heavily on the nearest.

"I don't believe this...I survived two ends of the world and some of the most dangerous people on the planet, then got killed by a tree..."

He took out his sword and wondered what he was to do next. Normally, when you died, the will of the Lifestream dispersed your essence and you became part of the wisdom of the Ancients. Some people could resist this –apparently, including him, but...he had no idea what he was supposed to do now. Take the Sephiroth route and try to reinhabit his body? The Aeris route and let himself be dispersed? The Zack route-neither of the above? What?

He blinked, and suddenly he was in the even more familiar flower field. Well, that was handy. With nothing better to do, he started walking. Maybe he'd find somebody he could ask.

After a few minutes, during which he'd started wondering if Sephiroth was still floating around somewhere here, and could you kill someone in the Lifestream, he suddenly ran into Zack, facing away from him, apparently trimming the flowers with Buster Sword. Hearing the soft tread, Zack turned.

"Cloud? What!?

"I-"

"What part of 'Everything's alright now' did you not understand, Cloud?"

"I-"

"You don't need to keep coming back here? You've no reason to! We're _memories_! Don't pick at a wound when it has finally started to heal. You're still alive! Go home, Cloud!"

"I would if I could, believe me."

"You mean- You didn't- You-" Zack was struggling with himself, his face flickering between total disbelief and disgust. "I can't believe you'd- What a waste, Cloud!" Suddenly he was lunging wildly. Cloud was caught by surprise, and he barely managed to jump aside from the slash, which cut down a swathe of flowers around where he had been standing. The follow up thrust was avoided only with a desperate sideways dive, rolling upright in time to see Zack attacking with a leaping overhand slash, also known as a Braver, because it left you completely open to a counterattack if you missed. Automatically Cloud brought his own sword up in time to make the parry, but the impact's shockwaves almost drove him to his knees. Somersaulting over his head, Zack tried to attack his back, but Cloud managed to bat the strike aside and somersaulted backwards to avoid a second slash as Zack promptly spun and attacked from his other side.

"Fight back, Cloud!"

Cloud would have loved to oblige him, but each of Zack's strikes had the strength of a limit break, and he was impossibly fast. It was all he could do to defend himself, and he wasn't doing that well even at that. Immediately, he was ambushed as Zack burst out from the cover of the flowers just to his left. He almost failed to block the strike, and as the force of Zack's lunge carried him past, Cloud missed a precious opportunity to counterattack while Zack was turning to face him. Panting, they regarded each other briefly, mutually catching breath from the first frantic display.

"I never thought you'd be so stupid, Cloud. Seriously, why cut your life so short? Why?"

"You think I want to be here? Really? It just...happened."

"So did the Massacre of Nibelheim, but that doesn't absolve me. Or you."

Cloud lunged. Caught by surprise, Zack was driven back several steps, each slash and parry shearing through the unfortunate flowers that were in the way. Recovering quickly, Zack countered with a dangerous thrust that forced Cloud to step back, robbing him of momentum and allowing Zack back on the offensive. He drew blood for the first time, a gash in the side that just touched flesh before Cloud forced it aside. Zack's follow up had to be abandoned while he fended off a series of cross slashes that could have paralysed him had they connected. Instead, the strike just devastated the flowers it met. Immediately afterwards, Zack somersaulted backwards, lost in the flowers. Cloud tried to follow but Zack was gone when he got to the place he had been. Looking around, he was trying to see where he went when the Blade Beam, mowing down flowers as it came, suddenly emerged from the flowers to his right. With limited time to react, he got the flat of his blade up in time to block it, but the force of the Limit spun the sword out of his hands, and he had no defense when Zack emerged a second later and rammed his sword through Cloud's chest.

"I'm sorry, Cloud," he said, sounding genuinely regretful, "But you don't belong here." Cloud dissolved into Lifestream threads. Zack glanced around at the flattened flower field. It wasn't devastated-far from it- but...

"Aeris is going to kill me."

Cloud woke up lying on the forest floor, to quite a lot of pain. He tried to get up, failed, and dropped one hand to the biggest source of it. When he'd hit the tree, his bike's sword holding rack had broken, and a small piece, not much longer than a dagger, had buried itself in his thigh. The fractured skull and broken ribs were healing, but while the blade remained inside that wound couldn't. With an effort he yanked it out. The amount of blood spattering the dead leaves on the forest floor increased significantly, but Mako and Jenova enhancements went to work and fifteen minutes later it had slowed to a trickle and stopped. It'd be a few hours before he could move on, though.

His phone, lying on the forest floor directly in front of his eyes, rang. Walking the fingers of one hand towards it, he answered and put it on loudspeaker.

"Cloud?"

"Tifa?"

"Where are you?"

"Sleeping Forest. Uh...sorry, I probably won't be back tonight."

"What happened?"

"I crashed. Hit a tree-"

"Are you okay?" Her tone sharp, worried.

"Yeah, I think-" Having got her answer, Tifa felt it safe to burst out laughing.

"Is the tree okay?"


	13. RenoRude v Weiss

_Sorry, I couldn't use Nero, because he's immortal. __Decided to do this one first because it'd be the most fun._

**Challenge 12 Turks v Weiss**

Being a Turks had a lot of benefits, Rude reflected, but the work presented a lot of opportunities to get brutally murdered for no reason as well. Currently, for example, he and Reno were blindfolded and standing on a small moving platform to ensure they couldn't navigate back to wherever they were going afterwards. As the Shinra's highest ranked non-genetically modified military staff, they were always the ones called when Hojo wanted to test the capabilities of some new experiment. While the steep peak in their pay slips at the end of the month would be gratifying, it...really just wasn't worth it.

After arriving at their destination and removing their blindfolds, they found themselves in a fairly large room which looked similar to a reactor core-but this wasn't any reactor they knew. There was an open, unshielded pool of pure Mako around the core, which was health and safety idiocy, even for Shinra. Such a blatant health hazard could only have been put there deliberately, for two reasons. One, executions. And second, to readily drench specimens in large amounts of condensed Mako. Having seen the mutations that even light showerings of Mako could do, Rude flinched at the thought.

And, leaning lightly against the reactor core was the reason the Turks were there. A tall athletic looking but otherwise not overwhelmingly remarkable man, muscled but not to a ridiculous extent. A shock of silver hair, Sephiroth-ish, but spiked, and not quite as long.

"This is Weiss" Hojo said, from the door, surrounded by SOLDIER bodyguards. "You are here to try and take him down. But...don't be too hopeful."

Weiss easily leapt the Mako pool, landing on the main section of the room, light on his feet. Moving between the two Turks, he raised his hands in an attacking stance. He didn't appear to be armed, but the Turks knew from experience that some of Hojo's specimens carried surprises. Weiss could easily sprout tentacles or wings without warning. It'd happened before.

Rude attacked first, uncharacteristically restless. Weiss was caught by surprise –he'd expected the Turks to try and keep their distance, be cautious. The first punch slipped through Weiss' guard and impacted in his nose. His head snapped back, and the follow up hit him in the stomach. It was like hitting a concrete wall. Rude, used to hitting armour in melees, kept going and landed an elbow in the side of Weiss' head. Weiss, disbelieving, retreated, on the defensive, and yet again Rude slipped through his guard with a kick to the chest that staggered him. Finally, Weiss recovered, and Rude's next punch was a touch over ambitious. Seizing his wrist, Weiss picked him up and threw him over his shoulder, landing Rude just on the rim of the Mako pool. His glasses flew off his head and skidded across the floor and over the edge. Cursing, he drew out a second set from a pocket.

Meanwhile, Reno had attacked from behind with a Mag Rod. Catching movement, Weiss sidestepped, and the steel bar hit his shoulder, not his skull. Spinning, he caught and held the bar in his hand, counterattacking with his free hand, which Reno blocked near the base of the rod, unable to move freely as Weiss maintained his grip. Kicking out at Reno's legs, Weiss missed, but Reno had to change his stance and mid step, Weiss lashed out by hand, catching Reno in the mouth and knocking him back a step, leaving Weiss holding the Mag Rod. Now unarmed, Reno found it difficult to defend himself, a kick sweeping his feet from under him. On the ground, Reno kicked out, hitting Weiss on the kneecap. He staggered but didn't fall, and his subsequent kick drove Reno headfirst into the wall. Turning, Weiss had to deal with Rude attacking again from behind. Now more respectful, Weiss circled, uncertain, then lunged wildly with a punch to the stomach. The armour all Turks wore under the suits soaked up the impact, and Rude responded with a full armed strike to the forehead that forced Weiss to put weight on his weak knee and he fell over backwards, losing the Mag-Rod. Behind him, Reno pounced on it. Rolling upright immediately, Weiss drove back Rude with a series of powerful strikes, having almost driven him to the edge of the Mako pool when Reno leapt on Weiss from behind with a fully charged Electroprod. They were surprised at the reaction the attack got-Weiss hit his knees and screamed-the metal plates surgically implanted in his body magnified the shock. But it wasn't enough. Weiss, though hurt, recovered immediately, turning, grabbing Reno by the throat, and throwing him away like a doll. Reno hit one of the small overflow reactors around the core moving at speed. There was an explosion, and Reno screamed, thrashing as he was hit by the full current. The smell of frying meat rose as the agonized scream went on and on.

Turning, Weiss found Rude in a defensive position, and lashed out in a series of strikes to bring him down quickly. But his defense held, and Weiss gradually intensified his attack. Rude, conscious of the Mako pool at his back, knew he had to hold out, and tried to circle around. He staggered, and Weiss lashed out. The block kept out the strike, but the strike clipped the sunglasses and knocked them off his head. While Rude was fishing in his pocket for a third pair, Weiss' strike slipped through his guard and impacted in his throat. Something crunched, and Rude hit his knees, gasping for air. A kick to the forehead knocked him over backwards.

A tech finally remembered to shut off the power to the surge reactor Reno was being electrocuted by, and Reno fell to the floor bonelessly, barely alive, his skin burned black by this stage. Medics rushed to the fallen Turks. Weiss moved clear of his opponent and bowed to his audience.

"Well...that was easy."


	14. OCs v SHM

_Thanks to Moonshine's Guide, without whom this fic would be a hell of a lot shorter. I don't know if those armoured wolf things from Advent Children have a name, so I made up one. _

**Challenge 13: OCs v SHM**

The Brothers were just turning to leave when the inter-planar portal sprang into life again. This time, two women fell out, the red mage who'd just left and another woman in a white robe. They looked around at the room, then up at the platform where the Brothers were currently standing.

"Oh no, not again..." all five sighed, and leapt into action.

Kadaj raised a hand, and three Shadow Hounds materialised on the floor of the room. Belias and Mateus(for readers who don't know FFXII, think Shiva) stepped to meet one each. The first buried its jaws in Belias' arm, driving him backward, but Belias held on and Painflared it into dust. The dust flowed past the Eidolon and re-formed behind him, with a clear field between it and Cressida and Violet. Belias tried to turn, but was immediately engaged by the third Shadow Hound. The first Hound lashed out at Cressida, who was nearby, driving her into the wall, stunned. She was still conscious enough to maintain her Eidolons, so Belias and Mateus stayed present, but not to do anything else. The Hound was about to attack her again when a close range rifle shot from Violet hit it in the eye, not quite enough to dissolve it, but painful enough to grant her its full attention. A further two shots bounced of the Hound's thick armour as it charged her, and she had to dodge a swipe as it neared, before a fourth shot hit its throat, dissolving it. An Aero followed immediately, scattering the dust and preventing the Hound from reforming.

Meanwhile, the two Hounds had successfully despatched the two Eidolons, leaving Cressida and Violet open to attack. Grabbing her sister, Violet dragged her under one of the surviving steel tables, that cast a Tornado just as the Hounds leapt. Picked up by the winds in mid air, the Hounds were slammed into walls and ceiling. One hit the strong but neglected quarantine doors at the main entrance. The doors themselves held, but the rusted hinges gave way, knocking a door askew and leaving a small gap at the bottom. The other Hound landed heavily on a steel table(luckily not the one Cressida was under), and it collapsed under the impact, causing the Hound to slide and hit its head off the wall. Loz leapt from the balcony and hit Violet in the jaw before she could disperse the now dusted Hounds. She was knocked across the room and to her knees, then he hit her from behind again and knocked her back to where she had been. About to strike again, Loz was hammered into the ground by Belias' sceptre from behind as Cressida scrambled out from beneath her table and went back on the attack. About to fire on Loz as he rolled upright, Violet was forced to retreat to the ever reliable cover of the steel tables as Yazoo leapt off the balcony himself and laid suppressing fire on her. Loz turned on Belias and hit him full force in the jaw before he could bring his sceptre up to defend himself. Belias staggered back, his pride seriously hurt at being upstaged by a mere mortal, and lashed out as Loz somersaulted aside from a Painflare, Yazoo stepped in and forced Belias to back off, shielding himself with his sceptre.

Yazoo kept firing at the two advancing eidolons, as well as the women behind them, holding them back while Kadaj watched disinterestedly from the balcony. Eventually, he clicked empty, and ducked as Loz threw a piece of a table at Mateus from directly behind him. A Painflare knocked it out of the air. Mateus glanced at Belias in surprise, who shrugged. Both eidolons tried to launch their devastating final attacks simultaneously, effectively cancelling each other out, leaving no eidolons in the room, and Yazoo and Loz facing down the two women. Yazoo, now reloaded, fired on them, but both were now safely behind a steel table. In fact, Yazoo himself was being driven back as Violet fired on him, Cressida healing them both.

When the eidolons reappeared, they immediately clashed sceptres over the botched devastating attacks. With Cressida screaming at them to pay attention and attack the right people, one of the Shadow Hounds attacked, and each sceptre collided with either side of its head, flashing it to dust and returning them to the task at hand. And when they did, Yazoo and Loz were fully occupied with each, matching them strike for strike. Violet and Cressida, left with nothing to do, healed themselves and waited. Violet, seeing Kadaj waiting on the balcony watching, levelled her rifle. Watching the battles between the eidolons and his brothers, he caught the movement in his peripheral vision and drew his sword. He successfully blocked the bullet, but the ricochet hit Loz in the back. He staggered and was hit in the pause by a Painflare. He didn't get up. Yazoo fired wildly at the shooter and hit Violet in the shoulder. Staying still to shoot steadily, he was vulnerable, and she countered with a Petrify that hit home. In the brief opportunity before he turned into a statue, Yazoo emptied his clips, hitting Cressida at least eight times. The classic white robe turned red and she screamed and fell.

Kadaj leapt from his balcony. Belias was disintegrated when his sword was rammed into the back of his neck to the hilt. Mateus and Kadaj locked eyes. They mutually narrowed. The drama was slightly spoiled as a passing Shadow Hound bit her head off.

"Good girl..."

Violet raised her rifle. Kadaj hit her multiple times with blue flames, blasting her back into the wall. Before she could recover, he slashed her shoulders, leaving both arms limp, and swept her feet from under her with the flat of the blade.

Leaving her behind, Kadaj crossed to the fallen White Mage and dragged her head up by the hair. Blade at her throat, he directed her attention to his fallen brothers.

"Heal them."

"I...can't. Don't have enough magic."

He searched her pockets until he found an Ether, but the blade never wavered from her throat. He handed it to her and tensed.

"If you summon those monsters again or your friend tries something, you are going to be missing a limb, do you hear me?"

She nodded, concentrated, and cast in succession a Curaga and a Stona on the respective brothers. Kadaj, stood up, half supporting her, and walked her towards the active portal, blade still at her throat, as the newly recovered Loz did the same for Violet. They paused on the threshold.

"I let you live this time because you healed my brothers. If I ever see you again, there will be _no_ mercy, do you understand?" Then the two of them were tossed into the portal, While Kadaj quickly moved to the control panel and shut it down

"Let's get out of here."

Once outside, they did a pretty thorough job of reducing the building to rubble before they left to find a new base.


	15. Denzel v Marlene

I don't know if this is quite what you were expecting, but

_I don't know if this is quite what you were expecting, but..._

**Challenge 14: Denzel v Marlene**

With Cloud, Tifa, and Barret gone to Midgar to liberate the planet of Deepground, Marlene and Denzel found themselves alone in the desolate ruins of the now abandoned W.R.O. building, considered far safer than Edge after repeated passage of Deepground armies and, not least, Vincent Valentine's classic Turk approach to mercy, had decimated the local dangerous wildlife. Even so, it had been a mistake. Tifa, realising that it probably wouldn't be considered good parenting to bring a pair of seven year olds into a warzone, had sent them there in one APC after the ground troops had run into a DG harrying force of Pegasus Riders. She hadn't realised that the W.R.O. building was completely empty, its garrison troops either dead or gone to Midgar. The driver had gone into what was left of the building to see what could be salvaged, leaving the children outside because entering the place was dangerous. They were discovering that the debris outside was excellent for hide and seek.

Eventually, however, Denzel, having been unable to find Marlene after several minutes (she was hiding in a crack in the ground covered by an overturned truck) wandered off, climbing the steps to look for the driver who'd brought them there, before seeing something behind him and running over to investigate.

"Hey Marlene! Come look at this!"

After some coaxing, she was eventually convinced that he wasn't just trying to get her to emerge and came out of hiding, coming up the steps to the W.R.O. building and turning around to find him sitting at a gun turret. Given both her fathers had had machine guns attached to their arms, she'd always found turrets fun, and had always been annoyed that she was never let near them.

Running over, she tried to push him out of the way.

"Hey, move!" He fought back, and she only got to three of the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique before he pushed her away and focused the crosshairs of the turret on her. Raising hands, she backed off and ran down the steps, disappearing down and out of sight. He knocked out a couple of surviving windows of the W.R.O. building before he heard the engine noise behind him and turned to see a DG Dragonfly, abandoned but functional, rising fast, various weapons locked on.

"Look what I found, Denzel!" Marlene screamed from the cockpit, though of course he couldn't hear her. One of the advantages of all the close friends of the family was that you learned some interesting things, including how to fly helicopters (Cid), pick locks (Yuffie), and incapacitate attackers (everyone else). After they'd been kidnapped by Kadaj, they'd been taught quite a bit.

Swinging around the gun turret, Denzel poured on the rounds, which the Helicopter, already damaged by Valentine, found it hard to take, and the turret shattered the rear propeller of the helicopter, sending it into a wild corkscrew, crashing headlong into the W.R.O. building, tail first, spinning wildly and coming to rest facing out-but it didn't explode. Before she crashed, Marlene fired off a number of rockets. Denzel dived aside, falling off the rafter the turret was on and down into the main courtyard in front of the building, as behind him his turret was blown to shrapnel. Running to hide behind a pillar, he rolled a rocket launcher into place beside the pillar as Marlene got out of the helicopter and levelled a rifle, which was just light enough for her to carry. But when she tried to fire it, the recoil knocked her over backwards-just as well, as it turned out, as a rocket hit where she had been a second later.

Unable to load the launcher again, Denzel sprinted for the base of the building as Marlene climbed back into the helicopter. Tripping, he landed heavily on the Black Widow decimated by Valentine. The weight of his body pushed a particular set of wires together, and the Widow suddenly burst into life and started climbing the building, Denzel clinging precariously to the back. Eventually reaching the level of the helicopter, it was met by a hail of close range machine gun fire. Responding with weapons of its own, the Widow ate away at the Dragonfly armour, bullet's ricocheting everywhere, weakening the structure of the building itself. Eventually, the side gave way, and the Widow fell. Denzel lunged wildly and landed on the edge of the building, just on the rim, pulling himself up. One hand, landed on a shard of glass, and when he got up, he was bleeding. Immediately forgetting why they were fighting(there wasn't much of a reason in the first place) Marlene got out of her helicopter.

"This isn't fun anymore..."

They went downstairs.

0000000

"What the hell happened here?"


	16. Elena v Reno

**Challenge 15:Elena v Reno**

_Verifying data..._

_Access number GAI021._

_Turks Administrative Research Department Simulation Program_

_Good evening, cadet._

The pleasant mechanised voice had induced rage in generations of Shinra recruits, but Elena barely noticed it this time. She was focused, determined not to make a single mistake.

_This exercise will focus on the collecting of items, as well as simple combat with virtual targets._

This was a basic exercise. It was an insult to be expected to undertake this. But her reputation had been called into question recently. First, there'd been those 'slips' talking to AVALANCHE. She tried to make sure nobody took her seriously, and being mindlessly chattery was a good way of ensuring that...right up to the point where she cut your throat. If she'd really been that absent minded, she'd be dead long ago.

_This exercise will focus on basic features of the handgun_

Then...there'd been Wutai. What'd happened had never gotten into an official report, but rumours spread quickly through Shinra, exaggerated at every repetition. Every account failed to mention that she'd been the reason the Don's lackeys had suddenly vanished, leaving him with only the Rapps for protection.

_This exercise will focus on basic features of the rifle._

Then...the North Cave. She'd been kidnapped for a second time. Many people blamed her for Tseng being captured as well, claiming he'd have gotten away if not for her. They'd been used to blackmail Shinra. Rufus didn't care one way or another about them...but he didn't want to be publicly seen to not care about them.

_This exercise will focus on basic features of the machine gun._

The fact that she was now living with her boss did not help matters. Inevitably, rumours had arisen that that was her only value as a Turk. She'd thought she could deal with them, but then somebody had said that she'd deliberately gotten captured so Tseng'd try to rescue her and she'd have an opportunity to seduce him in captivity. She hadn't thought anyone would be stupid enough to believe it. But there were always people ready to believe the worst. The perforated lung, broken jaw, and hypothermia she'd received in the process slightly outweighed the benefit of such a scheme, no?

_This exercise will focus on materia._

Combined with her previous record, this meant that a motion of no confidence had been tabled against her at the last board meeting, and she had to go through all her Turk aptitude tests again.

_This exercise will focus on limit breaks._

Tseng was worried, she knew. He believed she could fail.

_This exercise will focus on the gun turret._

She could get expelled from the Shinra military. And then Tseng could be disciplined for lacking judgement. He'd never forgive her. He might even believe she _was_ using him.

_This exercise will focus on the grenade._

This was an exercise where you had to blow up bridges while under fire as infantry units charged towards you along them.

_This exercise will focus on the rocket launcher._

Here, you had to shoot down a helicopter. The AI of the simulated targets was increasing.

_This exercise will focus on__ the helicopter._

Here, you had to show your piloting skills.

_This exercise will focus on the tank._

Here, you had to drive at speed along a simulated obstacle course with shells exploding around you.

_This exercise will focus on..._

_This exercise will focus on..._

_This exercise will focus on..._

_This exercise will focus on..._

The tests kept coming. She got through them, but as they increased in difficulty, she found it harder to get by. Seventeen exercises later, an Iron Man drew blood from her for the first time. The grenade at its feet then knocked it over the cliff behind it.

Tseng, watching expressionlessly, inwardly writhed. That was a top grade test, but if he said anything, it'd be assumed to be favouritism. She'd clearly proved her worthiness, but there was one test still to come.

Elena stepped through the door to find herself back in the room she'd started in, the familiar grey walls not assuming the appearance of some distant jungle or cave, but just the original training room. Reno was standing in the middle of it, Mag-Rod slung over one shoulder, in his traditional lazy stance.

"Congratulations, Lena, you got here. Now you just have to beat me."

She walked to meet him. "Hi."

"Don't expect me to go easy on you."

"I don't. The last thing I need is more cries of favouritism."

"Fair enough." He lowered his voice. "Don't let me down, girl."

"I got this far, I'm not-"

He lashed out.

They weren't holding back. She felt the Mag-Rod singe her hair as she ducked. A potentially leg breaking kick was avoided as he somersaulted over her head. She spun as she landed and blocked another swipe, grenade sliding out of her sleeve as she somersaulted backwards. It exploded in the centre of the room, knocking him backwards. She leapt to follow up and got hammered into the wall from behind. Automatically ducking as she rebounded, she saw the Mag Rod pass over her head and seized Reno's wrist with one hand and his hair with the other, ramming his head into the wall and breaking his nose. His elbow came back and caught her on the chin, snapping her head back and causing her to lose her grip on his wrist, where upon he spun and Electroprodded her side. She went down, and he lunged, to find her grabbing his jacket and throwing her over his head. He landed heavily on one of the crates in the centre of the room, rolling aside as she followed up. Kicking him hard and hearing ribs crack, she was about to step back when he caught her feet, lifted her over his head and threw her head first at the ground with savage force. Tripping him from her prone position, feeling a stunning headache coming on, she tried to get up and was tripped herself. Still lying down, he landed a kick on her shoulder, sending them sliding in opposite directions and snapping her collar bone. Mutually rising, they paused briefly, catching their breath and inventorying their injuries, before charging again.

Elena moved first, tossing a grenade at Reno's head. He batted it aside with the Mag-Rod he was holding, and it exploded harmlessly in an unoccupied corner of the room, but by then she was inside his guard, knocking him back into the wall again and grabbing him by the throat, digging in her nails.

"Would you like me to tear your throat out?" she asked, smiling.

"Not particularly," he replied, kicking her in the stomach. She went down, and her descending head met his rising knee, knocking her over backwards. He leapt on her to capitalise, and she rolled aside and upright, catching the Mag-Rod and...

"Can I draw something to your attention, sir?" Rude asked, standing beside Rufus, who was watching.

"Yes?"

"If they kill each other, they're no good to you."

"True, true..."

"Okay, that's enough! Elena, you put him to the test, that's all I need. Welcome back!"

The two fighters broke apart and went to get their various wounds treated. And that was that.


	17. Shelke v Vincent

**Challenge 16: Shelke v Vincent**

Exactly why Reeve happened to be carrying around handgun-compatible tranquilliser rounds Vincent never found out, but he couldn't deny it was remarkable foresight. Shelke was moving far too fast to be caught by rifle or machine gun fire with any consistency, and she was hard enough to target even with Cerberus in hand. His first shot sparked off her armour, and then he had to somersault aside as her sabres passed through the space where he had been. Struck by an idea, he fired the rest of his clip at the ceiling, but either the sprinkler system had run out of water or Shelke had realised she needed to disable it, because it didn't react. In the meantime, she had slipped inside his guard and drove both blades into his neck.

An edged weapon would have probably removed his head, but the strength of EM Sabres was also their weakness. They burned what they hit, but couldn't cut. Which didn't stop the strikes hurting like hell and knocking Vincent flat, but he didn't die. Reloading, he rolled upright, to find a slash from behind flooring him again. Rising again, he found Shelke trying to keep her distance in readiness for another charge, and successfully fired a tranq into her thigh. The next five bounced off her Shield, and her counterattack seared his side. But now, all he had to do was stay alive while the three tranqs he'd hit her with took effect. Thanks to Cerberus, he'd hit her with a treble dose, so it shouldn't take long, but the Mako in her body would try to fight down the effects, so he had a few minutes.

Switching to live rounds, he emptied another clip, all eighteen shots sparking off the walls vaguely in the vicinity of where Shelke was. She attacked across his gun hand, knocking him to his knees yet again as he lashed out desperately with his claw. Somersaulting lightly aside, she charged again. His third shot hit her in the ankle, incapacitating for a non-Tsviet, but she didn't slow, slashing at his knees and singing his cape.

Landing, Vincent was greeted by a double thrust to the chest, knocking him over again. This time, before he could even rise, Shelke had attacked again, this time to the back of his head.

The pain was too much. Galian rose.

Shelke paused, confused, as the purple globe engulfed the Keeper. Thus she was caught by surprise when the monster lurking inside hit her with a fireball to the chest, blasting her into the air. Mid-air, a series of heavy claw strikes hammered her heavily into the wall of the room. But you didn't win one in four sparring matches with Azul by being unable to take impacts. Using the momentum, she bounced off the wall (and the ceiling) and counterattacked with a vertical slash that knocked even the Galian Beast off its feet. Stepping back as it recovered, she summoned her shield as a series of heavy impacts hit it. Dismissing it, she delivered a double slash to Galian's head from either side, knocking it into the air and attacking again before it hit the ground.

Springing upright again, Galian launched a string of fireballs at Shelke, which hooked to follow her path but couldn't quite impact, exploding into the wall just behind her as she ran along it. Galian didn't turn in time to fend off a double slash from behind knocking him over forwards, and by the time he rose, Shelke was out of range of his claws and running along the wall again. Another string of fireballs followed, but this time one caught her shoulder, knocking her off the wall. Galian was on her instantly, getting in several heavy strikes before Shelke summoned her shield to repel him, before attacking with such fury that he was driven back, to the point where he couldn't maintain his hold on his body and relinquished it, giving Shelke a few seconds respite as Vincent regained his control.

Shelke was tiring as the tranquilliser took effect, but she wasn't quite out yet. The Mako needed to keep her awake meant that it wasn't healing her wounds, and Galian's claw marks were raw and painful. The exertion of the battle was accelerating the effects of the sedative. She hadn't got much longer.

She was slowing down now, but Vincent took a second to get his bearings and she managed another slash that floored him before he realised what was happening. Getting up, he managed three shots into her chest before she raised her shield against the following three. He fired two more clips into her raised shield, mostly to keep her from counterattacking-he could see she was close to collapse. As he was reloading for the third time, she suddenly closed and three double slashes in succession came close to being more than he could take, but five desperate point blank shots drove her off. When she didn't counterattack, Vincent looked up.

Shelke was standing some distance away, eyes unfocused and movements heavy, fighting to overcome the sedative, unshielded and vulnerable.

Three shots and a total of nine bullets decided the issue. Shelke collapsed sideways and was collected by her sister, and Vincent went in search of Azul.


	18. Cloud v Tifa

**Challenge 17 Cloud v Tifa**

The W.R.O. had successfully eradicated Deepground, but not without heavy losses, and Reeve was desperately in need of funds to rebuild the ruined W.R.O. HQ. In order to provide this, he'd organised a couple of exhibition matches between all the old AVALANCHE members. First up, the match was Cloud v Tifa, a pairing his PR experts had said was guaranteed to pull in the crowds. Hence, not quite sure how he'd gotten them to agree, Cloud and Tifa faced each other in the courtyard in front of the W.R.O. building, a roped off section laying out the duel boundaries.

In the interests of not killing each other, the match had been organised as a training bout. Instead of 'last person standing wins', the match had been organised into five matches-whoever won the most won. A match ended when one or the other person slipped through the other's guard with force behind the strike.

"Go!" the referee shouted.

Since this was an exhibition match, Cloud decided to start with something dramatic and leapt fifty foot into the air. Thirty feet up, he looked down, and saw Tifa standing where he'd left her, arms folded, patiently waiting for him to come back down. His bolt spell knocked her back a step.

"Touch!" the ref shouted. "Cloud wins!"

When Cloud landed the ref sent them back to their start positions.

"Go!"

Deciding to start with the basics this time, Cloud thrust forwards with all his strength. Tifa jumped and landed on the flat of the sword. She somersaulted backwards suddenly, kicking Cloud in the face en route and knocking him over backwards.

"Touch!" the ref shouted, somewhat unnecessarily, "Tifa wins!"

"You okay?" Tifa called.

"Yep." Cloud replied, getting up.

The crowd rumbled disapprovingly. They'd come to see half hour duels with somersaults and explosions, not ten second bouts without any blood. The combatants returned to their positions.

"Go!"

This was a better contest, with a number of near misses. The traditional way for a fistfighter to attack a swordsman was to keep somersaulting out of reach until he tired and started making mistakes. Generally speaking, you couldn't get in otherwise because the swordfighter had a much longer reach. Knowing she had two more bouts ahead of her, Tifa decided to duck and dodge instead. It was more dangerous, but Cloud probably wouldn't tire and she had a short opening after every swing, which she nearly capitalised on several times. This led to a more entertaining, dramatic contest, with more meat to it than the previous two, one the crowd could get into. Eventually realising she wasn't going to get in doing this, because he had fast reflexes and a long reach, Tifa waited for an overhand slash, caught the blade in one steel gauntlet, then stepped forward and rapped Cloud lightly on the forehead with her free hand.

"Touch!"

Bout four began. "Go!"

Beginning to take each other seriously, bout four was a _real _contest. Using his strength to good advantage, Cloud started bludgeoning with the flat of his sword, making sure that he drove her back even if she managed to block. She had to stay out of reach, because each strike had too much force behind it to fend off. This used up Cloud's energy, but it was very effective at tiring Tifa too. They were fairly evenly matched, but eventually Tifa was unlucky, slipping on loose debris from the invasion and falling backwards. Automatically, Cloud attacked with a horizontal slash, a decapitator. Realising too late what he'd done, he just managed to turn the blade down before impact. Tifa went down holding her shoulder, but most of the force had gone out of the strike with the sudden change of direction, and she kept her arm, deeply cut though it was.

"Touch!" the ref shouted, and was ignored.

"You okay?" Cloud asked, instantly at her side.

"Uh-huh."

"I almost killed you. This's way too dangerous."

"I'm okay."

"Em...you're contracted for one more bout." the ref said, behind them. They turned, angrily, then stood up and faced off, one of Tifa's arms hanging limp.

"Go." the ref said, his enthusiasm gone.

Cloud was now too afraid to attack, so even one armed, Tifa won the final bout and the match, then left to get treated instantly.


	19. Vincent v Yuffie

**Challenge 18: Vincent v Yuffie**

The feedback from the first exhibition match hadn't been quite as good as Reeve had hoped, but it hadn't been catastrophic either, and he felt he was justified in organising a second. But his options were limited. Tifa and Cloud had emphatically refused a reappearance. Barret still held a grudge over the little 'kidnapping and blackmail of his daughter' thing. There wasn't that many surviving Cait Sith dolls left, and he didn't feel he could waste them. Nanaki hadn't dignified the request with a response. Cid was away on W.R.O. business, trying to rebuild his fleet. That left Yuffie and Valentine.

Yuffie was easy enough. She was already in his employ, and would more or less do what he wanted if it resulted in an aid package to Wutai. Valentine was more difficult, but tourists had been crawling all over Shinra Manor since the DG war, and while not many found the hidden stairwell, they were still inconvenient for him. He'd agreed to participate if Reeve kept away his visitors.

While the feedback from the first match hadn't been bad, the crowd hadn't liked the tame 'First touch' structure, so Reeve had been forced to go back to the old fashioned 'first to not get up or surrender' format. Most money was on Valentine to win.

The same area had been roped off for this match, and there was a reasonable crowd there when Valentine walked in. Kisaragi was already there, shadow punching and turning somersaults for the crowd. It wasn't a waste of energy. If she got the crowd behind her, Reeve wouldn't dare let her lose.

The somewhat traumatised referee was back. This time, he had less work to do.

"Ready? Begin!"

Valentine leapt forward, gun hand coming up. He was blasted back across the ring by an eruption of flame. Rolling upright, he dived forward as a second explosion occurred behind him. Yuffie was visible for an instant in front of him, but then she vanished behind flames. Three more simultaneous fireballs drove Vincent back, then Bolt3 almost fried him, shattering the concrete where he had been. A wall of flame drove him back again, and a Shuriken emerged from the flames to his left and gashed his upper arm.

Yuffie's strategy was simple. If he couldn't see her, he couldn't shoot her. It was expensive in Fire Veils(one of Wutai's better known exports, it created an unfocused Fire3 across a large area. When materia became rare, they were invaluable), but it worked. Vincent couldn't fire blind. It would be too easy to hit spectators, and Reeve had specified no fatalities. Yuffie didn't need to worry about accidentally killing Vincent (if he could take a direct hit from a helicopter mounted rocket launcher and get up, a few fireballs weren't going to be a danger), but the same wasn't true of him. If he shot at her, he needed to have a clear target. Which she had no plans to provide him with.

As time passed, even Vincent's Hojo enhanced energy began to wane. While he'd managed to avoid any more direct magical hits, he'd taken several shrapnel wounds, and as the concrete ground shattered under the magical blasts, it was more difficult to move quickly. Periodically a Shuriken emerged from the flames and cut at him. One nasty shot had almost taken off his head. Every time he slipped on loose shards, he cut himself, sometimes badly. He couldn't keep this up.

Stepping aside from yet another blast, his back came up against a concrete pillar. He glanced up, and was almost caught by another blast, but he'd had his idea. Some free running later, he was standing on rafters above the arena, high enough that he could see around the fiery screen to where Yuffie stood. But he was unlucky. She moved at the wrong moment, and his bullets sparked off ground. It should have been impossible for her to notice that in the general chaos, but she somehow did, and looked up at him.

His second shot hit the Fire Veil she threw, and it backfired on her, blasting her backwards. Vincent didn't notice the second one that had landed near his feet until it blasted him off his rafter, but he caught the edge and hauled himself back up-directly into a shuriken that lodged in his chest deep enough to stick. But by the time he'd hit his knees, he'd shot Yuffie four times. She hit her knees too. He yanked out the shuriken and deliberately snapped off the arms. The flying kick knocked him backwards off the rafter and he impacted with the ground head first, leaving a red stain where he landed. He didn't get up. As this became apparent, the crowd went berserk. Yuffie downed an Elixir handed her by an attendant and raised her arms.

Vincent _could _have buried twelve bullets in her back, but he decided that might be considered unsporting.


	20. Cloud v Cid

**Challenge 19: Cloud v Cid**

The last exhibition match had convinced Reeve to bring his exhibitions to an end, as the damage to the forecourt by the Fire Veils outweighed any real benefits, and the severe injuries to both Valentine and Kisaragi had discouraged new competitors. If another genocidal maniac tried to destroy the world (there was no shortage of them, apparently) he didn't need his main officers laid up over an injury sustained in a meaningless sparring match. But...the punters were getting suspicious over the fact that in both previous matches, the vast underdog that few of them had bet on had one. He needed to stage a match where the favourite won to maintain his integrity. Given a choice between a middle aged, chain smoking pilot, and a Mako and Jenova enhanced SOLDIER who was in his prime and had defeated the most famous hero of the Wutaien war on repeated occasions, who would you put your money on?

Cloud had been initially reluctant to participate, but his reputation had taken a severe battering over losing his match to a non-genetically modified creature. He was losing business to his deliveries, and he had a lot of enemies who might try to take advantage if they thought he was slipping. Given that he lived in an orphanage, he didn't want to have to fight off assassins. So he'd agreed to participate to salvage his reputation and show the world he could still defend himself. Also, this time, he'd been given a whalebone practice sword instead of the edged weapon he'd almost killed Tifa with. Leaving him with a weapon that could still break bones.

Cid was late for his match. Now the Admiral of the W.R.O. Air Fleet, he didn't have much free time to waste on a thing like this. When he eventually turned up, strolling out of the W.R.O. building with a spear over one shoulder, trying to keep hold of it and light a cigarette at the same time, he looked completely relaxed, in control.

"Hiya, Spiky" he called, taking his position and putting away the lighter. Cloud said nothing. There was a pause, then both sprung into action.

Generally speaking, a swordfighter had an advantage over a pikeman. Although the pikeman had a longer reach, it was difficult to fight in close to an opponent. You had to retreat, and jab at your opponent when he advanced to force him to keep his distance. Cid decided to disregard this and charged instead.

Surprised by the ferocity of Cid's opening gambit, Cloud was driven back several steps, but quickly recovered and counterattacked. Cid spun his spear like a staff and blocked strikes on the handle, but while he was doing that he couldn't attack. He tried to back off to gain space, but Cloud knew he couldn't afford to give it to him and matched his retreat step for step. Thus followed a frantic display of Cloud trying unsuccessfully to penetrate Cid's whirling defence, all the while driving Cid towards the corner of the arena. Eventually, one of Cloud's strikes hit with more force than he'd intended and snapped the spear handle. Cid promptly hit him over the head with the wooden bit hard enough to snap it again, then followed up with a thrust from the bladed end that Cloud had to desperately leap backward to avoid. He didn't entirely succeed, and Cloud was left with a shallow gash just above his left eye, not serious but stinging nonetheless.

Cid advanced slowly, now shorter spear in one hand and a short length of broken wood in the other. The splinters were just sharp enough to draw blood. Cloud backed off towards the centre of the arena, eyes narrowed in concentration, eyeing the spear blade that now had just a hint of blood on the tip.

"You brought an edged weapon?"

"Yup. You didn't?"

"Well, I did, but I didn't want to use it."

"Then you'd better not let me hit you...again."

Cloud leapt the thirty feet between them with no warning whatsoever. Cid ducked the initial strike, but was hit by a numbing follow up to the shoulder. He blocked the next strike, then sidestepped and hit Cloud between the shoulder blades before he could turn, knocking him forward a step and almost breaking his length of wood again. Cloud somersaulted over the next strike, landing behind Cid and hitting him in the side of the head, sending him sprawling. From the ground, Cid thrust with the bladed end of his spear, nicking Cloud's shin and forcing him back, giving Cid enough time to get up. Cloud was in instantly, but Cid managed to fend him off and gradually force him back, defending himself with the length of broken wood and countering with the bladed end. Cloud was kept on the retreat, unable to close the distance and get Cid within his reach. Now that his spear was broken, Cid had a lighter, more easily wielded weapon that he could move reasonably fast, and he kept Cloud busy dodging jabs, cutting him at least twice.

Cloud was driven almost the entire length of the arena before he was able to mount a counterattack. Batting aside a jab, he shoulder charged Cid, knocking him back a step, swept his feet out from under him while he was off balance, then hammered him into the ground with an overhand slash.

"Owww..." A string of curses followed, naturally, that would make this an M fic if printed. Using his spear as a support, Cid got up, slowly and carefully. Impressively, Cloud wasn't falling for it, keeping his distance and on his guard.

Now upright, Cid stepped to meet Cloud again, to cheering from the assembled masses(everyone loves a trier). He began a slow high jab, and when Cloud raised his sword to block, kicked him in the stomach. Cloud hit his knees, and a strike from the length of wood sent him over backwards. The inverted orange cone of light heralded something cool for the masses as Cid leapt thirty foot into the air, then came down with his full weight and momentum behind a thrust into Cloud's chest, into which his barbed blade sank at least three inches. Blood seeped out onto the concrete. There was a collective gasp from the crowd. Removing his blade, Cid stood back and waited.

Cloud, much to everyone's surprise, wasn't quite finished yet. He was hurt, yes, but after being shot by Yazoo he recognised the wisdom of wearing armour on these occasions, and that had had taken some of the impact out of Cid's strike. Staggering upright himself, his own inverted cone of orange light drew appreciation from the crowd, before he went on the offensive.

The Omnislash was not entirely unexpected, and Cid went on the defensive, ducking and dodging as much as he could, occasionally blocking, always moving backward. A series of strikes tore his weapons from his grip, but Cloud couldn't land a strike on him. The second last strike was the closest he came up to that point, but Cid jerked his head back, and it merely hit the cigarette between his teeth and knocked it free.

The last strike finally struck home, crashing into Cid's chest with horrendous impact, knocking him to his hands and knees. Cloud stood back as the Limit Break's strength left him. Cid looked up, waved a hand, said "Alright Spiky. You win." then went in search of his lost cigarette.


	21. Hojo v Specimen

**Challenge 20:Hojo v Escaped Specimen**

Hojo hated it when business brought him to Nibelheim. Too many bad memories. And this time, he'd lost a prize specimen. When he found out who had signed the order sending Sephiroth to Nibelheim, he vowed there would be blood.

It had been an accident waiting to happen. Hojo had never issued an order stating that Sephiroth could never go to Nibelheim reactor. He knew Sephiroth would find out about it, and promptly go there. The order had probably been signed by some low level official who didn't know about Jenova. It made sense to send their best to deal with such a serious problem. And when Sephiroth had been sent to a reactor in which 'Jenova' was written above a set of locked doors...

An unexpected bonus in that was his psychotic breakdown and massacre of the town. There wasn't many survivors to tell what happened, and by the time people came to investigate, the clean up crew would have done its work.

Kneeling just outside Jenova's storage chamber, he examined some dried blood on the ground. There had been three bodies in the reactor. A foolish villager who'd gotten in Sephiroth's way, a fellow SOLDIER, and an MP who'd both fared little better. Of Sephiroth there was no sign, but there was a blood trail out from Jenova's storage room as far as the bridge, and a pool at the base of the stairs where somebody had fallen. What on earth had happened here?

There was no point in theorising. The reactor's security footage would tell the story soon enough. Currently, he wanted to know about Jenova's welfare. Had Sephiroth tried to engineer some ill fated rescue attempt? Or even a successful one?

Jenova –at least, most of her- was still present. The huge mass was slumped half out of her containment tank, impaled on the razor sharp shards of broken glass around the opening Sephiroth had cut. Preservatives, sedatives, and various other substances were spilled across the floor. Some of the pipes were ripped free, the statue covering the tank was carelessly thrown aside. There was blood everywhere, draining from the gaping wound in her neck, although by now that flow had dried up. Hojo stepped closer, and a trailing tentacle wrapped itself around his ankle.

Very few people knew that Professor Tarquin Hojo had one of the fastest draws in the company. Once upon a time, Vincent Valentine, a highly ranked Turk, had dipped for his gun in rage, and Hojo had gotten there before him. Anyone who saw him draw in anger rarely lived to talk about it. The tentacle was severed by a lightning fast shot before it could do anything dangerous. Jenova sprang into action, raising herself into life. A Bio3 impacted on the wall near where Hojo had been standing, but he was already gone, lunging towards the door and sealing it. Whatever else happened, he would not let her escape. A Molotov hit Jenova as she tried to climb out of her tank, with limited effect-the preservatives in her tank had left her too soggy to burn. Five bullets hit like nails through balloons filled with custard, but in spite of the shower of gore, Jenova didn't seem much impeded. If she could survive the loss of her head, that made sense.

A tentacle flicked by his ear. Although her containment tank was broken, Jenova was still attached to a complex network of pipes and wires that, not entirely unintentionally, kept her confined, and were probably the reason she hadn't already escaped. She could only reach Hojo with one free tentacle and magic, provided he stood near the door. She could only thrash wildly and hope to pull free, but was effectively almost powerless.

Just as he was thinking that, a Bolt3 hammered him into the wall. Tasting blood, he rolled aside as something heavy crashed down where he had been. The tentacle he had severed had morphed into a bizarrely huge, independent creature.

_So...the Jenova Reunion theory appears true._

Whatever this creature was, it was powerful, hurling bolt spells that buckled the walls and smashed the tanks below Jenovas's. Sooner or later, it would succeed in smashing down the door. Hojo fired his clip empty, but succeeded in nothing more than annoying it, if that. It ignored him, focusing on the door. He hesitated, then edged towards Jenova's tank. Her main body lashed out at him, but the tentacle almost severed itself on the tank' jagged edges, and the tank wall itself shielded him from the spells unless he was directly in front of her.

Firing at Jenova's transformed tentacle, he picked up a pipe that had been torn free of Jenova's tank and jammed it into the wound. He then adjusted the settings on a panel in the wall.

A year's worth of freezing agent surged out along the pipe, encasing Jenova's fragment in ice from the inside out.

It should be impossible to express frustration minus a head, but somehow, Hojo heard it. While he was occupied, Jenova's surviving tentacle wrapped around him, dragging him close. As she reeled him in, he caught his foot around a lever at the base of her tank and tripped it, then slashed the tentacle and threw himself to the ground.

The emergency measure was an absolute last resort, rerouting Nibel reactor's entire output through Jenova's tank. But since the village was destroyed, nobody would notice, and Jenova exploded, spattering pieces of her all over the room, beyond even her ability to regenerate within any reasonable time.

Hojo unsealed the door. By this time, his heavy crew had arrived, and a tech, flanked by two SOLDIERs, was waiting.

"Sweep her up and ship her to Midgar. We don't have to worry about Sephiroth finding out about this anymore, and clearly we need better security than this. Reopen the Nibelheim workstation, and keep the two specimens we found today there. Clean up the village, and have it repopulated-all the public needs to know is that there was an accident with the reactor. Have you seen the security footage yet? Where's Sephiroth?"

"Dead, sir."

"...Good. Announce that there was an accident with Nibeleim reactor and Sephiroth was killed. Quarantine the town until it's back to normal. I don't want word getting out

about this."

And Hojo had a new bad memory about Nibelheim. He would never forget or forgive the loss of his son.


	22. Tifa v Aeris

_Oops! Forgot to put spoiler warnings in the last chapter! Oh well..._

**Challenge 21:Tifa v Aeris**

"Tifa?" Aeris asked, watching the Chocobo disappear over the horizon.

"Mmmm?"

"What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well...the guys took the Chocobo lure materia, the greens, and the cash. What about us?"

"Um..."

"Yeah."

They stared out at the swamp.

"Think we'll get across?"

Something huge and scaly briefly became visible over the water.

"...Guess not."

A pause.

"What now? Back to the ranch?"

"He's not going to give us anything for free."

Aeris hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe I can sell him some flowers."

Tifa laughed. She'd noted, even in the brief time they'd known each other, that Aeris' prices varied hugely depending on who she was talking to. Close friends and people who caught her interest got their flower for a token gil, while people she disliked could be looking at a thousand. In the Mako drained Midgar wastes, she had no competition, and could name her price.

"How many do you have left?"

"Eighteen."

"Better get going, then."

00000

"I'm sorry," Choco Bill said helplessly, "I don't have any free birds"

"What about the ones in the paddock outside?"

"I'm keeping them for a client."

"Can we borrow one? We'll bring it back before he gets here."

"He's due today, and anyway, these are prime racing birds. I can't just give them away. I'm sorry, girls. I really am." And he did look it.

"Materia and greens?"

"Just sold the last materia today, and there's no point giving you greens without one."

Tifa and Aeris glanced at each other. If he lied, it'd be for more cash, not less. They were stranded.

"So when's your client due?"

The door was kicked open. "Billy! My man!" A man inexplicably in speedos walked in, flanked by two huge, heavily armoured bodyguards. "My birds ready?"

"Dio!" Billy said, leaping to his feet with the respect one saves for their best customer "They're right outside!"

"So I see! Let's hope they're raceworthy...for your sake."

Outside, a caravan of chocobo drawn carriages were lined up. One woman was giving the ones in the paddock a thorough examination. Finishing, she stood back.

"Prime condition, sir."

"Okay then!" Another guard carried in a pair of sacks with G's on them into the farmhouse. "It's time to ra-who are these?" Dio asked suddenly, noticing Aeris and Tifa for the first time.

"They want a Chocobo, but I've none to spare."

"Well now, aren't we beauties! I can't give you a bird for free, that's not how I operate, but I'll tell you what. I'll let you borrow one if you do something for me first."

"Really?" Tifa asked, slipping on her gloves behind her back "And what's that?"

"Entertain me!" She was about to break his jaw, guards or no guards, when he said "This is a Chocobo Farm, ladies; let's see what you can do!

00000

Facing each other atop Chocobos in the paddock a few minutes later, neither of them was feeling very confident. Ester had given each some basic instruction, but five minutes doesn't make a professional jockey. They couldn't say Dio hadn't been generous, though-each of them was riding thoroughbred bloodstock, battle trained war chargers. Which, of course, made this a much more dangerous exercise.

After a brief mutual hesitation, they charged each other. Neither was very experienced at fighting on Chocobo-back, but Aeris' staff served her better as a lance, knocking Tifa out of the saddle. She had just enough presence of mind to roll aside as scything talons flashed past a moment later. Aeris wheeled and charged again. Tifa leapt to meet her, but only succeeded in getting hit by a stinging strike to the shin with the iron shod heel of the staff. Landing on her feet, she leapt again to meet Aeris' charge. This time, Tifa hooked a foot around the staff mid flight, tearing it out of Aeris' grip and flicking it up to her own. Catching it, she swung like a golf club, catching Aeris in the lower back. Aeris screamed, but kept her seat.

Having lost her staff, Aeris now had to rely on her Chocobo for her weapon. While this was formidable, on the next charge, Tifa tried to use said staff to pole vault above the Chocobo's reach. It was partially successful, but the Chocobo crashed into the staff, tearing it out from beneath her. Tifa fell heavily forward, colliding directly with the oncoming Aeris, knocking her out of the saddle. As both of them landed behind it, a very confused Chocobo suddenly with nobody to direct it crashed headlong into the fence.

Aeris recovered first, sprinting towards her staff and retrieving it. The Chocobo had stepped on it, cracking the wood, and as Aeris blocked a strike as Tifa caught up, the staff broke in half. Tifa seized one of the broken ends, and what had started as a running cavalry duel suddenly turned into a fencing match. Cloud would have been surprised at how professional the display was.

Tifa double feinted, then came in with a barely batted aside strike, the sharp splintered end gashing Aeris' eyebrow. Tifa then tried a snap kick, and was rewarded with a numbing strike to the thigh with the iron heel –not a leg breaker, thank God. Aeris tried to capitalise, but her thrust was parried, and she was forced back as the two staff fragments clashed, Tifa using her extra strength from years of training to good advantage. The two iron ends clashed, striking sparks that started a small fire in the grass, hastily stamped out. Aeris ducked a strike and counterattacked, driving Tifa back a step, then another. Tifa recovered quickly and somersaulted to the side. The staves clashed again...

00000

The Chocobo was not pleased. Fence + Speed = Pain. When it managed to extricate itself from the fragments of the fence, the two idiotic jockeys were still attacking each other. They hadn't even checked to see if their mount was alive. That was downright insulting. She lowered her head and charged.

00000

Aeris saw the angry Chocobo bearing down. Tifa had her back to it. Upon hearing the shouted warning, Tifa nonetheless managed to somersault into the saddle. Before she managed to yank it back, it had buried its beak in Aeris' shoulder. She went down. Tifa dragged it back and spun it in circles towards the audience, throwing away her half of the Guard Stick. By sheer luck the splintered end stuck in the soft ground like a stake.

"Are you entertained? Are you not entertained?" Tifa demanded of their audience, which burst into enthusiastic cheers. Dio gave her a thumbs-up. Jumping off the Chocobo once the handlers got it in a halter, she went over to Aeris, who had healed herself as her limit break hit.

"Sorry about that. Are you okay?"

"I think so. He'd better give us a _carriage_ after that! I had that guard stick two years!"

In the end, Dio _did _give them a carriage and a replacement Guard Stick. As Tifa was getting in, she could hear Aeris call him back.

"Would you like a flower, sir?" Aeris asked innocently, "Special price..."

* * *

_This was fun, but hard to write, because I knew if I didn't do either of them justice, the fans would attack. What they will think of that, I don't know._


	23. Vincent v Weiss

_Spoilers for Dirge of Cerberus!_

**Challenge 22: Vincent v Weiss**

"Interesting. Let's see what you are capable of."

After the first few seconds, Vincent was beginning to think that that wasn't much. Chaos' power made him more resilient, but a bullet could only travel so fast, and Weiss could move at an appreciable fraction of that speed. When he was hit, he bled, but didn't appear noticeably injured or slowed. Later, the W.R.O. would find 347 bullets lodged in the chamber walls. Most of these would later be sold as souvenirs at ridiculously inflated prices.

Instantly, Weiss sought to close the distance, testing boundaries. He got in a slash, but Vincent was faster than he'd thought with the Chaos influence, and he paid for it with three (nine) point blank Cerberus strikes. Weiss backed off, and was hit twice more from distance. He blocked the final shot, then slashed, apparently at air. Vincent, reloading, was hit by two strikes that cut into his chest, knocking him over backwards. Recovering immediately, he fired five times. Four shots sparked off walls and ground, but the fifth hit Weiss in the arm. Ignoring the impact, he returned fire from his gunblades, forcing Vincent to duck behind one of the surge reactors. Emerging the other side, he fired off two shots, which hit, but at the expense of taking bullets himself. Ducking behind the reactor again., he swallowed a Hi-potion, then stepped out of cover to shoot and walked directly into Weiss' slash. When he got up, Weiss attacked again from behind, and was gone when he looked up. Swallowing another Hi-Potion, he spun and fired four shots at Weiss, who was attempting to come from behind again, driving him off momentarily.

After the initial moments, Weiss realised that he'd need to win using more than force alone and adopted an evasive style, moving quickly, trying not to give Vincent a clear shot at him, attacking from distance, closing in only occasionally. Vincent kept to the cover of the surge reactors, firing whenever he could, healing himself constantly. About half the shots he fired hit his target, but the same could be said of Weiss. Both quickly realised that shooting wildly had no hope of success. In order to attack, you had to stay still, which made you a better target. You had to take wounds in order to give them. This was a battle in which endurance would be the decisive factor.

That fragmented, tit for tat style would characterise the battle. Omega was much more resilient than Chaos, but Weiss wasn't carrying any cash. He repeatedly cut Vincent to pieces, but the vending machine in the corner was a godsend, literally distilling the elixir of life. Although patiently feeding in coins with a gunblade wielding maniac closing in fast was somewhat nerve wracking, to say the least. At least once, he was stabbed in the back while waiting for his curatives. An increasingly irate Weiss brought the full force of his strength down on the machine more than once, but the reinforced mythril shell resisted all attempts. And if Weiss lingered too long, he was likely to be shot in the back.

Exactly why there was a vending machine in the corner of a reactor core was a mystery to Vincent at the time, but it was later discovered that Hojo had placed it there expressly to infuriate Weiss with all the treasures therein that he could never possess. Needless to say, he succeeded.

After approximately fifteen minutes, Vincent began to feel that the battle was beginning to turn in his favour. Weiss' wounds were beginning to heal more slowly, and his slashes had less force behind them, as though something was somehow draining Omega's power. Then, when he dipped to reload, he felt his supply of shells beginning to dwindle, and knew he had to finish quickly. Disregarding his previous strategy, he suddenly charged. Smelling blood, Weiss leapt to meet him. A brief but frantic exchange followed. Weiss took bullets in both shoulders, chest, and legs. Vincent fell victim to two diagonal, slashes and three bullets. He cocked Cerberus under Weiss' jaw, but the gun clicked empty when he pulled the trigger and Weiss's response knocked him halfway across the room. Getting up, he dodged aside from two aerial swipes, swallowed an elixir, and fired Cerberus empty. Bolting for the vending machine, Vincent was forced to fire wildly to fend off Weiss, wasting precious shells. Busy replenishing his curatives, Vincent didn't notice Weiss leaping atop the reactor

Weiss was now really irritated. His power was somehow being drained, and Vincent was surviving thanks to that bloody machine. He had to finish this. Drawing in the processed Mako from the open pool, absorbing the Lifestream as Omega was meant to do, he unleashed the energy, streams hooking around to converge on Valentine standing near the machine in the corner.

"You will die with the planet!"

Vincent turned as the streams struck, effectively wiping out the effects of the recently swallowed elixir and leaving him critically injured once again. Weiss's actual target, the machine, was damaged but remained still functional, miraculously. Downing an X-potion, Vincent fled Weiss's blades, driven away from the machine. From the shelter of the surge reactors, he reloaded, but found only nine bullets and three shots left in Cerberus. Reflexively countering a bullet from Weiss, the first sparked off ground. Swallowing three potions in succession, he realised he was running low on curatives and sprinted for the vending machine again, firing off his two remaining shots to keep Weiss at bay. Both missed.

At the machine, he considered buying more bullets, but decided that his curatives took priority, as his funds were beginning to run dry. By this stage, he'd spent at least ten grand in the machine, so he replenished his supply of curatives to what he could comfortably carry and reach easily. He switched to his machine gun for his attack, and things rapidly took a turn for the worse. The heavy recoil from the weapons made it impossible to consistently hit a moving target with any more than a first shot, which did so little damage it really wasn't worthwhile. Meanwhile, Weiss continued to cut him to pieces, and he spent valuable gil on wasted curatives. The third time Weiss launched the Lifestream bolts, Vincent realised he could shelter behind the surge reactors, provided he leapt away at the last moment, and could escape relatively unscathed. But he only occasionally managed to hit Weiss with any real impact before the Griffon clicked empty the final time.

Switching to his rifle, the Hydra, his situation improved slightly. It wasn't as wasteful as the Griffon, and if he timed his shots carefully, he could usually hit with impact. But the rifle was too heavy to use on the move, and he had to stay still and take attacks, which sent him scurrying back to the vending machine. Several times he thought about buying ammunition, but if he wasn't alive to fire them, they were useless.

Weiss began to weaken. The Hydra had a slower firing rate than Vincent's other weapons, but each bullet that hit did damage. Vincent's funds, however, were also not unlimited, and he began using his curatives sparingly, when he was near death. Delayed action Phoenix Downs, one of the WRO's better inventions, were invaluable, but they were expensive, and tended to burst into flames when concentrated, so you could only carry one at a time. Weiss began attacking with more urgency, using his Lifestream bolts more frequently, and Vincent was forced to adopt an evasive style himself as he was forced out of cover repeatedly. He took a lot of damage, and finally spent his last gil. Triumph in his eyes, Weiss closed as quickly as he could. Weiss took five point blank rifle blasts, but dealt damage himself as well. Vincent was driven back, swallowing a curative. Weiss leapt atop the reactor, and Lifestream bolts obliterated Vincent. Leaping back into the fray, Weiss staggered as he landed, almost falling. He was close to exhaustion. From the ground, Vincent fired, hitting his knees, shins and feet. Swallowing a curative, Vincent dipped to reload, and realised he only had a couple of dozen bullets left.

_No point in being evasive now...If I run out of bullets, I'm dead anyway. Might as well fire them off._

He stood out in the open. Weiss leapt back atop the reactor. Lifestream bolts floored Vincent. Swallowing a curative, he emptied his clip into Weiss when he landed. Weiss leapt back atop the reactor. Lifestream bolts floored Vincent. Weiss was peppered when he landed.

And so the pattern continued. Vincent ran through every curative in his inventory. Limit Breakers, Phoenix Downs, Elixirs, Elixors, X-potions, Hi-potions, Red potions. He was pounded by Lifestream Bolts, but fired a full clip into Weiss every time he landed. As Omega's power drained, the wounds stopped healing. Vincent's inventory empty, he swallowed four ordinary potions in succession, knowing they wouldn't sustain him long. Weiss, tiring of the game, suddenly charged. Vincent, on his last legs, took one slash, and knew he couldn't take another. He emptied five rounds into Weiss, driving him back. Reloading, he hit Weiss once more.

Weiss had had enough. He leapt for the reactor once more, intending to obliterate Vincent once and for all, but he'd been hit by one too many bullets and didn't make it, crashing heavily into the side of the reactor instead. He didn't get up. As the hologram of Hojo reappeared, Vincent tried to take a step, and collapsed as the Chaos power sustaining him withdrew.

000000

_Later..._

"It was you... You were the reason I survived..."

* * *

_This battle was modelled on how I met Weiss in DOC the first time. I beat him on my first try, but by the end, my HP was 45, I had no money or curatives left, and all my guns were empty except the Hydra, of which I had twelve rounds left. Anyway, please R&R._


	24. CH23: Rufus v Assasin

_Since the Turks are professional assassins I decided to twist this challenge slightly._

**Challenge...23, I think: Rufus v Assassin/Turk**

The four Turks stood silently around their President as the Anti-Geostigma rain fell, erasing the stigma as though they had never existed. Rufus looked up.

"Get some rest, folks. You deserve it. Reno, stay a second."

Slightly wary, Reno watched his associates vanish. It made sense to keep him, as he was the least injured of the four-Elena and Tseng could barely stand, and Rude had a fractured skull from a falling billboard. But nobody liked being singled out. Rufus beckoned him closer.

"Reno...you've been with this company for years, and during that time there's been something I've always wanted to say to you. I had to hold my tongue while Dad was in charge, and then with everything that happened when he died I never got around to it. But now...I finally have the opportunity to acknowledge your true value to my company."

The Turk relaxed.

"Reno...you're fired."

"What?"

"You have never once to my knowledge been of any real use to my company-in fact, you're a liability. You're routinely beaten up, by AVALANCHE, the remnants, that Evan guy you met in the street... You took _fifteen _years to successfully kidnap one slum girl who lived alone with her mother. Can you give me one example in your career of a successful mission?"

"Sector seven."

"A mission involving pushing a button. You managed to get yourself seriously injured in the process. Anything else?"

"..."

"...Precisely."

Rufus fired through the cowl he wore. Reno crumpled. And rose. Rufus tried to fire again, but a numbing electrified strike to the wrist sent the gun over the side of the building. Another strike sent Rufus after it, but he somehow managed to tangle himself in Reno's feet, bringing the Turk with him.

The net from earlier that day was still there, and both men's plunge was stopped short. Rufus picked up his gun after a struggle, and shot one of the hooks holding the nets in place. That corner dipped, and both men grabbed the net. Reno, who happened to be further up, dislodged Rufus by repeatedly kicking him, then followed as Rufus crashed to the concrete below. Taking aim, Rufus found his gun kicked out of his hand, skittering ahead of both of them. Reno was after it instantly. Rufus, behind, drew a second handgun from his jacket and shot him three times in the back.

The bullets sparked off armour under the jacket and Reno spun, gun in hand, to the now oncoming Rufus. Three of _Reno's _shots now sparked off armour under _Rufus' _jacket, but the fourth one blew the gun out of his hand. Now within arms reach, however, Rufus swung with something else he'd found-Reno's Mag-Rod.

The reason Reno had chosen it as his signature weapon was the fact that a soldier wearing metal armour had no protection against it -he was in fact making it worse for himself by wearing armour. Most days, he himself didn't wear armour, but today he'd relented due to being repeatedly beaten up. So a fully charged electroprod brought him down instantly. But he wasn't out, and Rufus came down on top of him after a bullet entered his foot.

* * *

"Should we intervene?" Elena asked, standing with Rude and Tseng on the rooftop.

There was a long pause. Rude looked up.

"...Nah."

* * *

It had been a crowded few minutes, but Reno had finally pinned down his former boss, gun barrel under his jaw.

"Well, sir? What's it to be?"

Repeated clicks made them look up. A W.R.O. squad, set to watch the new Shinra Building, had arrived, rifles at the ready. After Edge had almost been destroyed earlier that day, they would be in no mood to be understanding.

Rufus smiled. "Tell you what...I'm pushing a vote of no confidence in Elena at the next board of directors meeting. You beat her in her trial, you're in."

In the circumstances, he had little choice but to accept.


	25. Yuffie v Reno

_Hi. I can't post new stories. It says I'm not logged in. That happen to anyone else? Anyway, enjoy._

**Challenge 24: Reno v Yuffie**

Bored and depressed after losing his job (according to Rufus, he'd drawn with Elena, not beaten her), Reno made a beeline for his favourite bar-one Turtle's Paradise in Wutai. Had he been thinking, he'd have realised that this was inadvisable given Shinra's past history with the town, but he'd come. Still wearing the Turk jacket, no less. He'd been in it so long it was hard to think about anything else. He might as well have worn a sign '**Seventy percent off at Lynchmob supplies!'**

The barman, who knew him, was willing to let his origins slide because of the alcoholism that made him an obscene profit. Yuffie Kisaragi, newly eighteen and coming into the building to celebrate her first (legal) drink, was not.

"Get out of my town." Her manner would have surprised AVALANCHE, who knew only the 'hyper kleptomaniac' version. Reno, turning around, suddenly realised how much trouble he was in and stood up.

"You're standing in the doorway."

"My mistake." She stepped aside, and he walked past, exposing the Turk jacket to the passers by. They swiftly moved to block his escape. Turks were (justifiably) not well thought of in Wutai, thanks to a couple of unpunished war crime atrocities. And now, Shinra wasn't powerful enough to hold them back...

Grabbing a surprised Yuffie, Reno threw her through the railings outside the Paradise and into the pond, Electroprodding her at full charge before the ripples had settled. Magnified several times by the water, the charge knocked her cold instantly. As the angry Wutaiens rushed to save their princess, Reno bolted in the opposite direction –deeper into the town. He was soon followed by a fifty strong angry mob, and knew if he had any hope of survival he needed to cut down the odds.

Gorky was caught entirely by surprise when Reno burst in, the mob on his tail. He didn't react fast enough to stop his ascent, but succeeded in barring the stairs against the mob that followed. Those who had already defeated Gorky continued the chase, only to be barred by Shake on the next floor, while the others squared off with him one by one. Similar things happened with Shake and Chekhev further up. Nobody excepting Yuffie and Godo had ever formally defeated Staniv, so Reno found himself on Godo's floor alone. But not for long.

000

_Below..._

Another Wutaien hit the opposite wall hard as Staniv spun his mace. Two others considered their options.

"What the hell are we gonna do?"

"He can't stay up there forever!

"Oh, come on. We can't keep everyone here indefinitely. A siege isn't going to work."

"What about Godo?"

"Do _you_ want to wake him up?"

"...Fair point."

A reinvigorated Yuffie flashed past, running along walls and ceiling, heading to the upper floor.

"We can't let her up there alone!"

The two ninjas exchanged glances, eyeing Staniv, still twirling his mace.

"...You go first."

000

Ducking under a Mag Rod swipe on the threshold, Yuffie somersaulted to the centre of the room and flung her Shuriken back at where Reno was standing, embedding in the doorpost instead as Reno lunged for her feet. Somersaulting over him, the ninja retrieved her weapon and flung it again, only to have it batted aside. Still wet, a follow up Mag–Rod strike staggered Yuffie, but she recovered and a small fireball blasted Reno back into the wall.

Retrieving her shuriken, she flung it at close range. Reno found the Mag-Rod he was holding trapped between two of the spikes that embedded in the wall around it, rendering it immovable. Abandoning it, he lunged for Yuffie, hitting her hard in the face. A follow up kick to the stomach didn't work out as Yuffie grabbed his foot and drove him backwards through the light wooden wall of the room and out onto the ledge outside, narrowly avoiding being impaled on the shuriken embedded in the wall nearby.

She could have just kicked him off the ledge, but Yuffie stopped to give a futile tug to the shuriken in the wall. Unable to retrieve it, she drew a sword from Godo's rack of spares before attacking. Reno rolled aside from the slash, then stepped back in and pushed her in the back, off the side of the building. Being a ninja, Yuffie caught the ledge and pulled herself back up, but not before Reno had stepped back inside the building and pulled a second sword from Godo's rack.

Turks trained with every kind of weapon under the sun. Wutaien ninjas had been training with every kind of weapon under the _moon_ for two thousand years. Neither Reno nor Yuffie were stellar examples of their creed, however. Training versus heritage...and even lazy ninjas/turks could give most ordinary soldiers a good battle.

The blades clashed. Yuffie had faster reflexes, but Reno had more raw strength. Forced back, she lashed out with a strike that nicked his upper arm, but neglected to defend her other side when he spun, resulting in a gash to her left eyebrow. He sidestepped her slash at his briefly exposed back, then stepped to meet her again, blades striking sparks off each other. Reno's underhand slash suddenly turned into a swipe at Yuffie's feet, for which she stepped back, then came back in slashing at his head, almost, but not quite, getting in a fatal strike. Blood streaming from his scalp wound, Reno suddenly countered with a gash to Yuffie's shin. A minor wound, it was actually a very intelligent attack, making it painful for her to step and limiting her footwork. Pressing the attack, Reno forced her to put her weight on her now weak leg, provoking a slight stagger with every step that created opening for those capable of taking advantage. Her reflexes kept him from a fatal strike, but he got in a few gashes before falling back, waiting for her to step to meet him.

She was limping painfully towards him when Godo appeared in the doorway, sword in hand.

"What's going on?"

Reno knew he couldn't fence with a trained swordfighter and started edging away. Godo attacked, a blistering display to put Sephiroth to shame. When Godo stepped back, Reno was exhausted. Then two more ninjas, the third and fourth people ever to defeat Staniv in a pagoda battle, appeared in the doorway.

At this point Reno decided he'd had enough and jumped off the building. A five floor fall hurt, but he'd been in worse collisions before. With most of the angry mob on various levels of the pagoda arguing with/attacking the guardians, he had a head start that allowed him to get free of the town alive.


	26. Scarlet v Heidegger

_At the moment, I'm not sure I'll do Barret v reporter. Bit of a mismatch...Sorry. But enjoy this one, anyway._

**Challenge 25(Wow, 25! I thought I'd get about five when I started this):Heidegger v Scarlet.**

"Stuck up to the end!"

_-slap_

"Quit slapping me, you old wench!"

-_slap_

_-slap _

_-slap_

_-slap_

_-slap_

_-slap_

_-slap_

_-slap_

_-slap._

"Oh God...I can't take it anymore..."

Heidegger paused the tape.

"And that, gentlemen, is how _not_ to deal with a dangerous escaped prisoner you have cornered."

The watching soldiers laughed, but were cut short from behind as Scarlet stalked into the office, dress trailing behind her. Heidegger swiftly ejected the tape and locked it in a drawer in his desk.

"Dismissed, gentlemen. Why, Scarlet! What brings you here?"

"That tape. Give it to me."

"Or...what? You attack me? We're Shinra executives. Isn't there a more cerebral way to settle our differences?"

"Probably, but none quite so satisfying." She sighed. "Look, can't we just dispense with the clichés and proceed to beating each other up?"

Heidegger smiled. "Agreed." His fist almost knocked her though the wall. Although surprised, she recovered quickly, drawing a knife from inside the dress as he rounded the desk. He dodged her vertical slash with surprising agility, stepping back in and trapping her arm against his side, immobilising her knife hand. But, dress or no dress, she snapped out a kicked that sent him rolling across the desk, back to his chair. Unfortunately, however, she'd lost her knife, and he came up with it in hand as she drew a second.

Neither of them was in their element with knife fighting. Heidegger always fought with his hands, to the point where a fully armoured soldier could feel one of his punches. Scarlet preferred to use a shotgun, and she was in fact wearing a holster, but a gunshot in the building would bring every guard within earshot, and coming up with a convincing story would be inconvenient. Nor was she prepared to kill over a mildly embarrassing videotape. There was also the problem of Heidegger's desk, which impeded the close in fighting that one need to use a knife effectively, as they simply kept circling around it away from each other. They clashed several times, but couldn't close effectively.

Finally, Scarlet got tired of this and threw Heidegger's office chair at him. He knocked it aside, but this lost precious time and allowed Scarlet to cross the desk unimpeded, forcing Heidegger back towards the door (which could only be operated from the desk). Now with no obstacle between them, they had to engage.

It was very difficult to actually fight with short blades. Beloved of serial killers though they were, even an unarmed victim had a chance, and someone with a longer blade would gut you easily. You could throw it, if you wanted, but it had to be the right kind of knife if you expected to hit at any reasonable distance. Curved daggers, such as the execs were using, weren't aerodynamic enough to accurately be thrown, and had to be used up close and personal. But if your opponent was in range, you were in theirs. As such, it was a skittish battle, with one exec attacking, then leaping back as soon as it was countered, however wildly. Neither of them came close to drawing blood for some time.

They could have stayed there for hours, had Scarlet not eventually stumbled over the ruins of Heidegger's chair. Seeing his advantage, Heidegger closed, but he moved too soon, and catching his wrist, she pulled him down on top of her, forcing his knife hand wide while hers found his throat. Their eyes met.

"Tape?"

"Well, if you want it _that _badly, darling, how can I refuse?" He gave her the key, allowing her to retrieve her prize and stalk out.

Buzzing his secretary, a chastened Heidegger ordered himself a new chair. She'd retrieved her tape, against his expectations. Now he only had the copy in the other drawer of the desk, the one saved in the memory of his command console, and the one in the vault in the gold saucer.


	27. Barret v reporter

_Thought I wouldn't be able to do this, but eventually came up with a plot for it, although it gets a little dark._

**Challenge 26: Barret v Anti-AVALANCHE Reporter**

Barret tried to ignore the peaceful protest outside the W.R.O. building, but it got difficult when they started throwing stones at him. Somehow, word had gotten out about exactly who AVALANCHE were and what they'd done, and people who'd lost relatives to them were less than pleased at finding out exactly what had happened. Before this, only very few people were actually certain what had triggered Meteorfall, and most of the others blamed the Shinra. But now...Strife delivery service, already struggling due to rising costs, inflation, and the fact that nobody wanted to live in Edge anymore, was sustained only by W.R.O. subsidies that Reeve was considering withdrawing to preserve his organisation's image. Tifa's Seventh Heaven had stayed afloat only because she had started a part time martial arts class to supplement her income.

Barret's oil company, although it wouldn't be fatally wounded by losing W.R.O. custom (at least not now that Mako reactors were frowned upon), would nonetheless have to close several power plants if the W.R.O. started producing its own power, and probably would have to leave Junon continent entirely. He'd come to W.R.O. HQ to appeal the decision, but the protest barred his way, and as he got out of the van to ascend the steps, they seized their opportunity. . Just because he was 6'6" and had a machine gun attached to his arm everyone assumed he was stupid.

"Is it true you are responsible for blowing up Mako reactor's 1 and 5 in Midgar?" the nearest chirped excitedly, clearly delighted at the story he had.

"No comment."

"Why not? Is that an admission?"

"No, it's just not a comment."

"Okay. Isn't it true that the outlawing of Mako has allowed you to effectively monopolise the world's electricity?"

Barret paused. "Ya approve o' murder, then?"

"Murder?"

"Processin the lifeblood o' the planet an' killin it."

"Well, it depends...by all accounts, the planet has a lot of lifeblood...but the people who were killed in the explosions only had one life each."

"It's people's lives that're processed into Mako in the reactors. Coal is already dead."

Barret sighed "What would you've done different?"

"So you did blow up the reactors?"

"...Yes."

Barret was expecting further questions asking him to justify himself. Instead, the interviewer methodically picked up a placard with 'THE W.R.O. SHOULDN'T HARBOUR TERRORISTS' on it, examined it, gave it back to its holder, said "Give me one with one of those stupid puns on it", and hit Barret hard over the head with the new one, tearing the cardboard off the post with the impact. Caught totally by surprise, Barret hit his knees. Two W.R.O. soldiers raised weapons.

"Leave him!" Barret shouted, knowing someone rarely displayed such extreme reactions with no reason. The second strike sent him over backwards, but he rolled upright with surprising speed for his size, lashing out with his metal arm. The arm struck the pole, halfway down its length, snapping it, but the interviewer shifted his grip instantly and hit Barret on each side of his head with the broken ends. Meanwhile, Barret's fist was still travelling and hit his opponent in the chest, sending him flying back into the security door of the W.R.O. building with a clang. Recovering instantly, he rolled aside as the metal arm crashed down where he had been, chipping a small crater in the concrete. The reporter tried to strike at the back of Barret's knees with one broken end of the pole, but Barret stepped over it. The reporter made his feet as Barret turned to face him.

Reporter or not, his stance was light-footed enough he had to be an ex-soldier, and he fought against a machine gun with, if not confidence, definitely not uncertainty either. Barret adjusted the setting on his gun arm deliberately, hoping to provoke a desperate charge. As soon as he glanced down, his attacker flew at him with greater speed than he'd anticipated, driving in one powerful blow to the stomach that sent Barret's head forward in time to meet the second strike to the jaw, and he ended up pinned to the security door with the lengths of wood crossed at his throat. Slightly dazed, he glanced down.

"Y'know, those don't have edges, you can't cut my throat." Clearly, his attacker had trained with swords.

"You think I can't break your neck?"

Barret raised his gun arm, pressing the barrel to his attacker's chest. "Before I tear you to pieces? No."

His attacker paused.

"Tell me something, Barret...why did you blow up the reactors? Don't say to save the planet, there's always another reason."

"...my wife and my hometown were killed by the Shinra."

"Your wife was killed by Shinra soldiers? Well, mine was in the number 1 reactor. My son was in the number five. Think about that."

The reporter turned and walked away. The W.R.O. raised weapons again, but Barret raised a hand and they stood back

Think about that,he'd said.

_...I do._


	28. Sephiroth v Godo

_N.B I know nothing about fencing. I just write whatever sounds good._

**Challenge 27:Sephiroth v Godo**

The mace flashed towards Sephiroth's head a final time. Ducking, he slashed at its wielder, who fell with a cry. Leaving him for the soldiers following, Sephiroth sheathed his sword and ascended the stairs.

000

Even here, Godo could taste the smoke in the air. It had been a long, hard fought war, but here, now, Wutai burned. The Shinras would soon have the place overrun. But they would bleed for their victory. Hearing footsteps on the stairs, he stood and drew his sword.

000

Emerging into the top chamber of the Pagoda, the seat of Wutai's power, Sephiroth drew the sword he'd just sheathed for a), dramatic effect, and b), it was too big to use in the narrow stairwell.

Godo was unimpressed, and gestured for him to take his place across the duelling mat. Testing the ground for traps with every step, Sephiroth cautiously obliged. He'd come this far, he didn't intend to die carelessly now.

"And what's your name?" Godo asked, eyeing him, just in case Shinra had another silver haired supersoldier with a black cape and Mako eyes.

"You'll be afraid to hear it."

"Hmph. I think not. Sephiroth Crescent?

"The one and only. And you must be Godo Kisaragi."

"_Emperor _Godo Kisaragi."

"Not for long."

"..."

"Nothing to say?"

"I have no words...My voice is in my sword."

"Speak, then."

Godo lunged.

Any fencing instructor will tell you, _never _attempt a direct full thrust until you've worn your opponent down. A full thrust is very dangerous, as it can be avoided by moving down or to either side, and, like as not, you will be gutted before you can pull back your blade. Sephiroth, however, was used to his opponents being terrified of him, attempting to keep their distance, and an instant attack caught him off guard. He made the wrong decision, leaping _back, _and had he moved more slowly, he would have been skewered. As it was, he barely got back beyond the length of the blade, and the very tip of Godo's sword sliced two of the straps holding on his coat. Immediately, Godo attacked again, but Sephiroth brought his sword around and batted the strike aside. Keeping his momentum going, Godo spun and ducked a swipe, before attacking again, and Sephiroth was forced back, trying to get Godo out to the length of his blade so he could use the point. Godo, for his part, knew his best chance lay in getting inside his opponent's guard, and kept on the advance. Sephiroth's blade was too long for much dexterity, so he was kept on the retreat, unable to move his sword quickly enough to parry or block. Conscious of being pinned against a wall, Sephiroth circled back around the room, and, still not able to use his over long blade to good advantage, dived sideways, rolling upright in the centre of the room, sword in hand, an oncoming Godo forced to retreat by a swipe at his head.

Initial exchange completed, the two swordfighters regarded each other, assessing. Sephiroth's genetic advantages gave him greater speed and power than his adversary, and the length of his blade gave him a longer reach. Godo's scimitar was shorter and lighter, with a broad blade that could take heavy impacts easily, and he could probably move it more quickly than the longer blade. Sephiroth's weapons contained plenty of offensive materia in the slots, but using them took a moment of concentration, a lapse in his defence that he knew Godo would use to cut his throat. Sephiroth had speed and power on his side, but Godo was a seasoned campaigner who never made a mistake. This battle would not be a foregone conclusion.

This time, Sephiroth was the first to attack, a vertical swipe that turned into a low horizontal slash when Godo sidestepped, only for him to step over it and stab at Sephiroth's exposed side. This time, Sephiroth was prepared, and merely stepped to his right, before bringing his blade around again into a diagonal slash at Godo's left shoulder blade, leaving him nowhere to dodge. The Wutaien Lord got the parry up in time, but instantly Sephiroth's blade spun and returned for another strike. This was also successfully fended off, and when Sephiroth drew back for another strike Godo attacked, tracing a shallow wound across the General's chest and slicing the remaining straps holding on his coat.

Sephiroth suddenly found himself entangled in his coat as it fell off his back. While he was tearing himself free, Godo took the advantage given to him, and Sephiroth did exceptionally well to avoid a more serious wound than the one he received (A gash to the shoulder). Luckily for him, the coat proved a double edged sword, as when Godo continued to press his advantage, he slipped on the now discarded coat, sending him tumbling to the ground. Sephiroth sought to press his advantage, and Godo was hard pressed to repel him as the Generals sword blade hammered down with such force that cracks began to appear in Godo's blade above the hilt. A desperate slash at Sephiroth's legs from his seat forced him to retreat briefly, allowing Godo an opportunity to roll backwards and upright before Sephiroth advanced, kicking the coat out from underfoot as he came.

Another exchange followed, and while Sephiroth had a half chance to kill, Godo got away with nothing more than a shallow scalp wound. However, he also managed to create a thigh wound for the General, equally shallow.

When they broke apart again, Godo was beginning to tire. He just wasn't as durable as the SOLDIER. Sephiroth launched a lazy, probing attack –and almost lost his head. While the duellists' absolute concentration didn't allow them to speak, Sephiroth thought he saw a smile in the corners of Godo's eyes. He hesitated, but the response to Godo's counter was equally fast and deadly. An unspoken sense of acknowledgement passed between the two.

_-Okay, so you're good-_

Sephiroth considered his options. By now, it was clear that he couldn't defeat Godo with skill. If he kept trying, he could end up getting caught. But he had the advantage of strength and speed over the Wutaien. If he was going to win out, he needed to play to his strengths,

The sudden ferocity of Sephiroth's assault caught Godo off guard, and he was instantly on the defensive. Retreating, he realised what his opponent was attempting to do, but the relentless strikes crashing down on him left him no time to counter. There was no subtlety to Sephiroth's assault, but the slashes kept coming, each potentially arm breaking. Godo succeeded in counterattacking a few times, one of which slashed yet another shallow wound, but for the most part, he could only react to what was thrown at him. This was a war of attrition, pure and simple.

When they broke apart the next time, Godo was visibly the worse for wear. Breathing and sweating heavily, the cracks on his sword blade had spread under the sheer impact and frequency of Sephiroth's offence. Sensing victory, Sephiroth attacked again. Godo's defence was slowing as he tired. Sooner or later, something would slip through his guard.

Three clashes later, Godo's sword slipped from his fingers and he fell. Sephiroth advanced.

"I admit, _Emperor,_ that was impressive. But your reign is over."

Godo laughed, his strength almost gone. "Oh, you've won the war. But Wutai has endured worse. The Wutaien nation was a major player in the Defeat of the Calamity, and we were given the Dai-Chao to guard us as reward." Godo stood up, retrieving his blade. "They will give our nation strength."

"No surrender?"

"I'm afraid not."

"You die, then."

"Probably. Kisaragi!" The last was accompanied by a stumbling charge. Caught by surprise at such an idiotic gesture, Sephiroth didn't bring his blade up in time, but as Godo unleashed a clumsy low slash at his feet, it was no trouble to leap and avoid it. Unfortunately, he immediately concussed himself on the room's low wooden ceiling, and landed much less gracefully. Knowing Godo would take advantage, he picked a direction and dived, but lost a precious second sweeping his hair out of his eyes, and Godo's blade punched through his shoulder, rendering one arm useless instantly. Prising his sword free of his useless hand, Sephiroth readied himself.

Godo, tired though he was, took his time, circling teasingly, stepping in and out of range, forcing Sephiroth to swing to fend him off. However genetically modified you are, some swords just cannot be used with only one hand. Every swing left openings, and Godo soon exploited one in cutting Sephiroth's feet from under him. Grounded, he was swiftly disarmed, and Godo plunged his sword into his back before examining Sephiroth's own weapon.

"This is a good blade..." Godo noted, divesting it of its materia and storing them in a wall compartment behind a tapestry that would not be discovered by Shinra until its contents had been moved elsewhere. "But...it's of no use to me." With some effort, he snapped the blade under his boot. Sephiroth, who had just gotten his hands to the blade buried in his back, found the blade of his own now broken weapon thrust through him with such force that it went through him, into the floorboards, and emerged, dripping blood, in the ceiling of the floor below. He coughed up a mouthful.

Godo blinked. "You're still alive...you SOLDIERs are durable, aren't you? Well...let's see if you can grow back a head." He retrieved his own blade from Sephiroth's back and raised it to deliver the fatal strike. The now limp Shinra General could do nothing to stop him, having been handed one of the few defeats of his adult life. Had two Shinra foot soldiers not appeared in the doorway at that moment and each emptied thirty bullet magazines into the Wutaien Lord, it would almost certainly have been his last.


	29. Zack v Yuffie

**Challenge 28: Zack v Yuffie**

The doors of the building splintered, then finally buckled under the hammering from the soldiers. Two 1ST class soldiers leapt into the gap, and were immediately spitted by the woman inside the door. The following soldiers, several casualties later, forced her back inside the house, but she fought like all the cornered Wutaiens, and soon the squad were either dead or fled, with the exception of a certain 3RD class soldier called Zack. He would have died too, if not for a call from behind a curtain nearby. When he repeated what he heard to a soldier who knew the language later, he discovered it to be the Wutaien equivalent of **'Go, Mom!' **

The Wutaien woman blinked and half turned. **'Yuffie? What are-'**

But by then Zack had seized his chance, and the Flying Sickle bit into the side of the woman's neck. As she fell, a girl of about ten emerged from behind the curtain, retrieved a Shuriken from the corpse, and darted downstairs. Zack hadn't understood the exchange, but he'd heard the name, and was after her like a hound after a hare. Yuffie Kisaragi, technically heir to the Wutaien Empire. If Seph had gotten to Godo already, she might even be Empress at this moment. A valuable captive, no matter what the circumstances. If there was an escape tunnel downstairs, he couldn't let her get to it.

As it turned out, there was no tunnel, just a room with two levers at the end. Just as he brought her down with a rugby tackle, she threw her mother's shuriken ahead of her, depressing one of the levers and dropping the cage around them. One edge came down on the back of Zack's shin, breaking his leg instantly. Yuffie promptly produced a dagger from her sleeve and buried it in his other leg, forcing him to his knees.

"Now you're a better size to deal with," she told him in...uh, not-Wutaien.

"Trapping yourself in with me? Not a smart move."

"Hah...you don't understand. _I'm _not trapped in here with you. _You_ are trapped in here with me." She dropped into a stance. Zack, who'd seen Wutaiens fight unarmed before, took a stance as best he could while pinned on his knees. The cage robbed both of them of much mobility, so blocking would become very important. There was just enough space to swing his sword.

She moved first, an open handed jab to the throat. Grabbing her wrist, he was about to cut her arm off when he hesitated, not entirely certain if he should mutilate a ten year old for life. Then another jab broke his nose, and he decided that morals took second place to not dying. But the jab had caused him to release her wrist, and she was now back in her stance.

A low kick missed him but glanced off the dagger buried in his thigh, driving it deeper. Zack fell forwards on his hands, and anticipating a neck breaker from above, just got his hand up in time to prevent it. An outward punch sent Yuffie into the bars behind her, but she recovered in time to dodge the follow up, and the follow up to that, a vertical slice with the sword. Back on his knees, Zack had by now decided that he had to go for a kill. A direct thrust sparked off the bars behind the girl, who ducked and lunged for the dagger in his leg, but he beat her back with his other hand. Another dagger was produced from somewhere and flung at his head, but he batted it aside with the sword, landing it outside the cage bars, out of reach of both of them.

By then, she was lunging for him again, both hands on his sword hand. In ordinary circumstances, a ten year old girl couldn't have had the strength to take the sword from a grown man, but Zack was surprised by the attack, and bleeding heavily from his shattered leg, and somehow she ended up facing him, holding his own sword with a certain worrying expertise.

Shinra soldiers were supplied with fire materia when invading a town (Shinra's famous 'die & fry' policy). Zack hadn't used it already as fire materia diffused over a wide area, and in such close quarters, he would almost certainly be burned himself. But, since it was that or be skewered...

The Wutaien girl's light cloth robe caught fire immediately, Zack's body armour less so. On the third fireball, she hit her knees, sword dropping from her hand as she tried to put herself out. Zack swiftly retrieved it and let her feel the edge. Her response was to snatch the dagger from his leg, twisting it viciously en route. Yuffie suddenly concerned Zack much less than the blood spurting from his leg, and he was soon unconscious. He was found less than a minute later, just in time to stop him from bleeding to death, but Yuffie, still small enough to step out from between the bars, was gone. As was Zack's Fire materia.


	30. Nanaki v Hojo

**Challenge 29: Nanaki v Hojo**

When he woke up, Nanaki found himself sealed in a glass container in a vast research facility. As soon as he was seen to be awake, a researcher observing started talking into a phone on the wall, and shortly afterwards, a man in a white coat arrived, his eyes bright.

"The last Canyonite...I've waited a long time to find you."

"You must be Hojo." Nanaki readied himself , dropping to a crouch. Safely behind the glass, Hojo laughed.

"Correct. You can't penetrate the seal, don't even try. I don't want you damaged."

"Your concern is appreciated."

"Thank you. And what do you call yourself?"

Nanaki considered lying, but since he was the only Canyonite in the world, it was probably futile. "Nanaki."

"Nanaki...hmm...no. No, I don't think that will do. I shall call you Red."

This was a studied insult. His name was a symbol of the lost heritage of his race, and this creature was casting it aside like a thing of no consequence. The low growl caught Hojo's attention.

"Open this cage, human."

"Why, certainly. John, seal this room."

Heavy metal doors slid down over the exits of the room. And then the tank door opened. Nanaki was so astonished, he didn't lunge. Hojo smiled.

"I was hoping to test your combat abilities, but since you can't take the opportunities I offer...very well. Captives lose their spirit. As such, I allow each sentient specimen _one_ chance to attack me, to keep them healthy. You won't get this chance again." He paused. Nanaki didn't respond. Apparently careless, Hojo's scent was tense as a spring. "No?" Hojo turned away in disgust, leaving his back to his captive. Nanaki hesitated. Their were many tales spun around the fires in Cosmo Canyon regarding Hojo of Shinra, most of them of the kind told around the fire to terrify the cubs. There were also a few less fantastical accounts from Grandfather, who had met him. But all tales agreed that Hojo was far from stupid. If Nanaki sprang now, he'd have a trick up his sleeve.

Hojo turned, unscathed. "Hahaha...not as foolish as the others...impressive."

"Others?"

"You are not the first Canyonite I've seen. I've even had a few for my research. They make durable test subjects. The longevity of your race is very useful-an intensive breeding program can extend that durability to other specimens. You will be of great use to me."

"I am no tame dog."

"You'd like to think so, wouldn't you? In truth the Canyonites are not so different from Guard Hounds. Look." Producing a remote from his jacket, Hojo flicked a switch. A wallscreen lit up, showing an image of what had once been a Canyonite. The crimson fur had been supplanted by purple growth in patches, and the headdress and mane had been removed, replaced by a surgically implanted barbed tentacle. Even the teeth were gone, replaced by overlong steel substitutes that cut into the lower and upper jaw of the Canyonite. Something similar had been done with the claws. The once proud Canyonite had been destroyed.

"This image was taken three years ago..." Hojo told him conversationally. "The specimen is still alive. Quite deranged by now, of course. If you serve me well, I'll let you kill her."

The _her_ stung deeply. Once, he might have known a name for the destroyed creature, but he could not recognise the bearing. Finally overcome with rage, Nanaki sprang. Two researchers on a walkway above activated the tank doors, but Nanaki had moved so suddenly he was already gone through when the doors clicked shut.

Hojo was more alert than his underlings, however, and had dived to the ground with surprising speed for his age, leaving Nanaki lunging into empty air. Twisting, he landed some distance beyond the prone scientist as he rose to one knee, drawing the handgun in the same movement. Claws striking sparks from the steel floor, Nanaki charged, dancing aside from a welcoming bullet from the scientist. The lunge sent the scientist over backwards, but he got his arms up in time to shield his face as Nanaki's claws tore at the labcoat, revealing the body armour beneath. Somehow, Hojo managed to get an elbow to the side of the Canyonite's head, rolling at the same time to spill Nanaki to one side. Switching hands with the gun, he punched Nanaki in the ribs as the Canyonite lunged across him at the gun hand. Winded briefly, Nanaki faltered, and Hojo was able to throw him a couple of feet away with his free hand, giving the scientist enough time to sit up. Delaying the Canyonite further by forcing him to dodge a frantic five bullet salvo, Hojo gained his feet, and Nanaki had lost a golden opportunity.

Panting but smiling, Hojo took a duellist stance, gun hand extended towards Nanaki, back hand raised high behind his head.

"I'm not so fragile as most believe, Red. I've been attacked before, by better creatures than you."

Nanaki took a step forward, and Hojo moved back the same distance. He was the perfect distance away for a spring, but if Nanaki tried, he'd get a couple of rounds in the skull before he'd left the ground.

"Creatures such as yourself are flawed, you see. Your speed and agility is excellent, but your only attack is a wild lunge. Devastating if successful, true, but once an opponent has your measure, the lack of thumbs lets you down."

Another step. "And that is why you are the last of your kind, apart from my, ah, somewhat _altered _creation."

"Adaptability, Red. That is what you must learn to survive as a research specimen. Arrogance won't serve you here. And I want you to survive." Another step. Hojo brought one hand in to sweep a loose strand of hair aside, and Nanaki lunged. Incredibly, Hojo knocked him out of the air mid spring with his bare fist, sending a stunned Nanaki crashing to the ground, dazed. He had buckled steel with force of a spring. The only other time he'd been knocked out of the air was by a tail swipe from a Red Dragon. Still groggy from the impact, he leapt again. This time, Hojo caught him by the throat, again in midair. Their eyes met, the Canyonite's focusing not without difficulty, radiating disbelief, the scientist's appraising stare almost offended.

Hojo shook his head. "You disappoint me, Red. I had expected better from the Last Canyonite, especially one whose parents held off a Gi army singlehanded." In actual fact, his mother alone had held off the army, but Nanaki didn't bother correcting him. Nanaki's claws swiped futilely, only succeeding in tearing the labcoat further. Hojo gave him a genuinely disgusted glance.

"Don't squirm, it's undignified. Pity...you're not nearly as formidable as I'd hoped. Oh well...I'm sure I'll find some use for you. Weak specimen or not, you have strength in the blood. That can be-" The fireball hit him in the face. In a bizarre lapse in judgement, Nanaki found his materia had not been removed. As his hands were occupied, Hojo couldn't shield himself, but as he reared back in pain, he had enough sense to fling Nanaki away with all his strength. The Canyonite flew across the room, crashing into and shattering the wallscreen opposite. Shards of screen left a pattern of minor wounds across his back, and the smell of burnt fur rose.

Hojo had not even had time to blink before the fireball struck, and now his vision was blurry. He couldn't see Nanaki, but he could still detect light, and as Nanaki staggered to his feet at the opposite side of the room, he emptied his magazine shattering lights between where he guessed the Canyonite was and himself, scattering a dangerous minefield of broken glass across the floor, hopefully slowing the Canyonite down until he recovered. Slotting in a fresh magazine, he waited.

Nanaki, separated from his quarry by the shards, had to pick his steps. A second fireball proved futile, as Hojo was shielding his head now. He misstepped, grinding a shard to dust, and Hojo instantly fired towards the crunch, slicing a minor wound in a hind leg. This caused Nanaki to misstep again, and this time the bullet caught him in the chest. With great care, he managed not to make any more noise, and got to open ground, where he decided that he had best finish this quickly and charged.

By this time, Hojo's sight had recovered slightly, and he could see the red blur coming towards him. He fired five times in quick succession, but his aim was skewed, and two sparked off ground, while one sparked off Nanaki's bladed headdress. The other two buried themselves in Nanaki's chest, and then he was in flight.

Hojo knew he had to protect his throat, and the jaws sank into his forearm instead. The gun fell away, and he was in serious danger. He got in several strikes to the Canyonite's throat, but the jaws didn't loosen. For his part, Nanaki found himself intoxicated by the taste of Hojo's blood. There was something alien, inhuman, in the scent, and Nanaki found it difficult to concentrate. What was more, his jaws should have shattered the forearm he was latched onto, but the bone was holding. Hojo's uninjured hand darted for the gun, but Nanaki retained enough coherency to swipe it away with a forepaw. Nonetheless, detecting the Canyonite's slight detachment, Hojo deemed it safe to reach into his jacket and remove a Tranquilliser, subsequently burying it in the Canmyonite's throat. Into a main artery, it didn't take long to take effect, and Hojo of Shinra lived to fight another day.


	31. Aeris v Red XIII

**Challenge 30:Aeris v Nanaki**

"Where are you going?"

Aeris hissed a most un-mystical-Ancient-like curse and turned. Having gotten to Gongaga, she'd thought she would be able to make her disappearance cleanly over the confusion with Cloud, but she had discovered that Red XIII was a lot more alert than the others. He'd caught up with her almost instantly-they were barely out of sight of the town.

"I'm going to stop Sephiroth."

"Alone?"

"I'm the only one who can stop him."

"With that materia in your hair?" Aeris blinked. The Canyonite had good flashes of intuition too. "We can protect you."

"Really?" Her hand flicked up to the still fading bruise on her forehead, the distinctive imprint of Cloud Strife's fist. Nanaki shrugged.

"He caught us by surprise. Tifa's ring is still embedded in the side of his head. We won't let it happen again. If you couldn't protect yourself from Cloud, what makes you think you can stop Sephiroth from killing you before you've activated that materia?"

"I've more to me than you think. Do you think all of you together could stop Sephiroth killing me if he wanted to?"

"Probably not. But we might slow him down long enough for you to get to work...that's the White Materia, isn't it?"

Her breath caught. "You're well informed."

"Canyonites have long memories. If I remember my legends, you need to be somewhere special to activate it, just like the Black. That's not nearby, is it?"

"...No."

"You could use a few bodyguards en route, no?"

"...Probably. But Sephiroth _will _try and stop me. I don't want to get you all killed."

Nanaki laughed. "And you say Cloud is one for pointless heroism? Hypocrite."

Aeris lost patience. Sooner or later, one of the others would come looking for her, and by then she'd never get away.

"Look, I'm not going back, so if you want me to, you'll have to drag me. Your choice."

Nanaki shrugged again. "Suit yourself." He sprang.

Midair, he saw the Wall shimmer into existence in front of her. She'd been hoping to have him strike headfirst and knock himself out, but Red had experience of ill timed springs, and he twisted in the air even though he couldn't stop himself, taking the impact on his shoulder instead. Rebounding, he landed lightly, leaping back from a swipe from the staff. Even shielded as she was, the shockwaves from the impact knocked Aeris back a step.

They regarded each other. Red arched an eyebrow.

"Where'd you find that Materia?"

"Gongaga reactor. So...what are you going to do now? Batter down my Barrier?"

"We'll see. All I have to do is keep you from running." He crouched suddenly, but didn't spring. She backed off a step, twirling the staff, ready to fend him off. Suddenly bursting into motion, he tried to circle around to spring from behind, but she turned to face him, and the Wall swivelled with her. He didn't spring. Although he knew he could eventually batter down the barrier, he didn't believe there was much reason to bother. He only had to hold her where she was. He began circling, slowly, forcing her to turn to keep the Barrier facing him, keeping her occupied and precluding a retreat. It was second nature to him, but she had to keep spinning, and sooner or later she would misstep on the treacherous forest floor.

Inside the Wall, Aeris came to the same conclusion, with the additional point that continuously spinning on the spot was making her dizzy. Her defence would lose her her chance, so she had to act.

Red was caught by surprise by Aeris' sudden charge, but he reacted instantly, springing over her and the Wall to land behind her. She spun as he sprang back, and the very edge of the Wall hit him like a physical strike, sending him tumbling to the side. He rolled upright in time to meet her next attack, ducking under the first swipe from her staff and parrying the second on his headdress A sudden twist of his neck almost ripped the weapon out of her hands, and while she was stumbling back to overcompensate, he sprang at the Wall. It held, but the shockwaves knocked her over backwards, and he almost got in behind it as she got up.

_Well, that didn't work out, _Aeris thought, backing towards the nearest tree. It wasn't much of a refuge, as time was on his side, but it would give her a chance to catch her breath. Clearly, she couldn't hope to defeat the Canyonite, so she'd have to rely on headlong flight. The idea was unlikely to succeed, as she was a city girl running through a forest in a long dress, while he was a member of a race famed for speed, strength, and tracking skills. While it wasn't the same terrain as his home either, he probably had the advantage. But she had to try.

When he saw her climbing, Red could only burst out laughing. Did she really think that would be a refuge? Strictly speaking, all he had to do was wait under the tree at this stage, but he was mildly offended at the idea he could be thwarted by so simple a measure, so he lunged again, landing vertically on the thick trunk of the tree in question and digging in with his claws. Aeris thrust the end of her staff at him like a spear, but he'd already sprung again, impacting heavily on the Wall. The shockwaves dislodged Aeris from her branch, but she clung on with one hand. A second impact broke her grip.

Red _could_ have landed on her spine and killed her as she picked herself up, had he wanted to, but he overruled his instincts and landed heavily on the monster behind her instead. As the monster thrashed, a foreclaw slashed a shallow cut in his chest, but he leaped clear of the creature before Aeris could take advantage. She spun with surprising speed and clipped his shoulder with a numbing strike that left him open to a follow up thrust to the chest. Leaping back from a third strike, he paused for a moment as he hit his Limit and yellow light surged up around him. The Lunatic High lent him strength, and he sprang at the Wall. It shattered on the second spring, and he knocked Aeris over backwards, landing on top of her and snatching the materia from its socket. Their eyes met.

Aeris sighed. "Okay, I'll take you with me." Satisfied, Nanaki allowed her to rise and retrieve her staff, but kept hold of the Barrier materia. He turned back towards Gongaga town.

Nanaki was not normally naïve, but Aeris had always seemed to be a paragon of virtue, so he was caught completely by surprise when she delivered a stunning crack to the side of his head with the heel of her staff. The Barrier materia, as well as the Ancient, were long gone when he woke up, and when he made his way back to Gongagas town, he was too embarrassed to mention what had happened. Thankfully, Cloud soon woke up, and had had a bizarre fever dream that told him exactly where to go, so the question never arose.


	32. Cloud v Sephiroth part 1

_Hi. The __window for challenges is now closed. Thanks to all who contributed, but especially to Moonshine's guide, who kept the fic running as long as it did. I know I mentioned her before, but, well...she did supply 25 of my 30 challenges. Thanks again._

_Now I'm going to write a multi-chapter showcase piece to conclude the fic, and show you what I've learned._

**Final Battle: Cloud v Sephiroth**

**Part One: Setting the Scene**

"_Wake up!"_

Cloud's head jerked up, suddenly, as he heard the call.

_Him. Again._

He changed his route, and Fenrir roared.

0000000

High in the North Cave, a crystal egg splintered, then burst to shards. In a blur of silver, he was free. He turned his thoughts outwards.

"_Come, Puppets. We have business to Conclude."_

_0000000_

The Icicle ski slopes were difficult, but not insurmountable, and by this stage, Cloud was far beyond any of the dangers of the Great Glacier. Ice crunched under Fenrir's tyres, but after the first few encounters, its denizens fled his approach.

000000

The first of the Puppets had arrived. Not many now remained, but there were enough for his purposes. They'd brought what he needed. Numbed hands long unused to motion buckled a coat, affixed a cape. Those motions caused difficulty as he acclimatized to his new (old?) body, but even now he still remembered how to affix the sheath to his hip. The blade inside was reassuringly heavy, the familiar balance an extension of his arm.

0000000

He was finding trace, now, of others who had been Called. Crushed ice, footprints, the occasional mark where a body had fallen. But, this time, no bodies. They were too few for that, now. Those who were still alive were the most resilient. The First still awaited him.

0000000

However weak the Puppets were, they remembered how to kill. It was the reason for their existence, after all. When he drew the blade, inviting them to attack, they had no difficulty in obliging, however weak they might be.

0000000

Holzoff was pleased to see him, asking if he had fresh supplies to help him tend to a fallen Called One. When he shook his head , Holzoff asked to borrow his sword.

0000000

The final Puppet fell, dead at his feet. He had decided not to prolong this struggle. If he failed today, he failed. He would accept the Planet's judgement and his own fate. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't contest it today. Sensing Cloud, he raised a hand towards the sky. If this was to be his final throw of the dice, he would ensure they were weighted in his favour.

0000000

At the base of the Great Cliff, Cloud was presented with a problem as a violent storm suddenly sprang into being. Rain, rare this far north, descended in a deluge, melting snow and ice, sending a torrent plunging towards him, a vast weight of water accompanied by intermittent lances of ice. Mako-strengthened bodies, however, were resilient and quick, and he avoided the worst of it. Nonetheless, that which he endured would have turned a lesser creature to a bloody smear on the mountainside as the sheer weight of the water crushed them to dust. He took almost an hour to heal, before continuing his ascent.

0000000

Deciding he had done what he could, he decided not to delay the inevitable and began walking towards the Maze. It was time to finish this, one way or another.

0000000

Driving Fenrir up the sheer cliff presented difficulties, but Cloud was determined not to retreat. Thankfully, the W.R.O. had made the route easier in the intervening years, allowing them to invade the Crater should they need to at a point in the future. The melted ice had also left the cliff slope gentler. The bike's onboard radio pounded in his ears, giving him encouragement as he ascended the rain slicked stone, and he eventually achieved his ascent. The subsequent descent was much easier, and he knew his adversary was close.

0000000

Cloud was closing fast. It was time for some more distractions. He raised another hand skyward.

0000000

Watching the way ahead closely, Cloud wasn't as alert in other directions as he should have been, but his response was fast and deadly as a combination of grey tentacles and sheet lightning descended from the sky. Hacking frantically, he continued his advance.

0000000

His pace never varied from the slow, measured tread, even as his adversary loomed ahead of him. The time for games was over.

0000000

The frantic assault suddenly ceased, and when Cloud looked up, he could see why. A black shadow was approaching, across a windswept pinnacle. Moving as close to the barrier as he could, he dismounted from Fenrir, the radio still blaring. The shadow ahead of him raised a hand. There was a sudden silence. Fenrir's radio suddenly started blaring out a familiar song. It was Sephiroth's anthem back in his Shinra days, in some obscure reference to either his hair or his sword, and he'd chosen his final battle form as Meteor struck with a sense of irony. And now, they faced each other, wind and music pounding in their ears, as One Winged Angel set the scene. Sephiroth snapped his fingers, and the driving rain cut off, as though someone had flicked a switch. He raised his head.

"Like what I've done with the place, Cloud?" he called, over the wind.

* * *

I'm deliberately exaggerating the drama, in this scene. I know Sephiroth's remark at the end makes no sense. Ignore it. It builds drama.


	33. Cloud v Sephiroth part 2

**Final Battle: Cloud v Sephiroth**

_This is what you've waited for,_

_The chance to even up the score._

_If you've got something to say,_

_Say it to me now_

_Say it to me now_

_-Glen Hansard, Once._

**Part Two: Dialogue**

There was a short pause, before Cloud said "What?"

Sephiroth, facing Cloud across the narrow stone ridge, blinked. "What?"

"What have you done with the place?"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "The rain?"

"I see." Cloud's brow furrowed. "Why? That just makes it more slippery for both of us. What advantage does that bring you?"

A bolt of lightning hit the tip of his drawn sword, knocking him to his knees. Regaining his feet, he nodded. "Ah."

"It's also more dramatic" Sephiroth added helpfully.

There was a pause, as both realised that the wind preventing them from attacking each other was not slackening any time soon. The lightning was draining, so Sephiroth decided to rely on his sword from now on. With nothing better to do, he resumed speaking, feeling that the conversation had gotten away from him in the last few moments.

"Shall I assume we will shortly engage in yet another fight to the 'death'."

"I think so, yes."

Can I invite you to reconsider?"

"And let you go? Why would I do that?"

"Because I've given up trying to destroy the world. The Planet's a resilient bitch, and Jenova's out of my reach. I just want my body back, and my life."

"...I'm not really inclined to trust your word."

"Okay, then, consider this. You've killed me three times. First, in Nibel reactor, when you oh so bravely played dead while I massacred the village and then snuck up and stabbed me in the back. Secondly, at the North Cave, when you flung everything you had at me, and _still_ needed lifestream enhancements and the influence of your dead not-quite-girlfriend to finish me, along with the White Materia and a large portion of the Lifestream. The Planet itself had to fight to beat me. That's how good I was. Thirdly, in Edge, when even with Lifestream enhancements again supplied by that helpful Cetra girl, I had you at my mercy. If I hadn't wasted time with pointless posturing, that sword would've gone through your skull instead of your shoulder. Now, this time, I don't intend to destroy the world, so you have to fight me off your own bat. The Planet's a selfish bitch –she won't waste Lifestream enhancements on you if she's not in danger. Statistically speaking, you've killed me in close run affairs three times. The odds were against you every time, even with all your help. On your own, you're pretty much doomed."

Cloud paused. He had an uneasy feeling that Sephiroth was making sense. But he wouldn't be Cloud without a penchant for pointless heroism.

"I'm not letting you leave."

"Okay then, time for the battle." But the wind still barred their way, and while it had slackened slightly, it did not look like it was stopping any time soon. They waited.

"Oh, by the way Cloud, this is also _my_ body, not some Clone I'm possessing. I spent years building it, and I'll be able to use the full extent of my abilities."

"Why're you so eager to convince me not to fight? Feeling threatened, Sephiroth?"

Taken aback himself, Sephiroth hesitated. "Maybe. But that also means no more posturing, no more games. I'm not about to get caught off guard again."

"I bet you said that the second time too. Even if you win, the W.R.O. will hunt you down. You might as well just return to the Lifestream and accept your fate."

"Jenova doesn't let you die easily, Cloud. You of all people should know that."

"So you _would _die if you could. I'll be happy to help."

"Not quite. I wonder if I could convince you to leave me alone once I get free. The Planet's in no danger. I've given up." He didn't like to admit it, but Jenova was now beyond him.

"So you said. But I don't trust you. You tried to destroy the world."

"Not exactly. I tried to hurt it. And I failed. You and the Planet caused more deaths than me."

"What!?"

"Yes, Cloud, you heard me. I butchered my way through the Shinra building and the Cargo Ship. You killed thousands of people in reactors _and _butchered your way through the Shinra building. I used the Black Materia...but you were the one who handed it to me. The actual Materia didn't do as much damage, but the Weapons that were released by the Planet after your conscious decision to hand it to me killed thousands of people. I massacred Nibelheim...but you killed all those purple things in the Temple of the Ancients. Not to mention all the Shinra soldiers. So which of us has done more damage, Cloud? Who knows, maybe the planet will hand Lifestream enhancements to _me_."

"I don't think so!"

"Well, you're probably right there. I don't have a helpful not–quite-girlfriend speaking on my behalf. But...I don't think you'll be granted them either."

"So, Sephiroth, assume you beat me. What then? Back to Shinra?"

"Shinra? Hah! I don't think so! Twelve years of loyal service I gave them, and what do I have to show for it? An Oedipus complex and an effeminate hairdo. I'm through with them."

"What, then?"

"So you can hunt me down? Sorry."

The wind began to fade.

"Time's ticking on, Cloud. If you've got something to say, say it now."

"No matter how many times you return, I'll find you and beat you every single time."

"Schoolboy heroics, Cloud? For some strange reason I expected better. Well, let me spare you some worry. Today is my last throw of the dice. If you win today, you _win. _I'm finished."

"And I'm supposed to believe you?"

"Believe what you like, Puppet."

The wind slackened. They drew the swords they had for some reason decided to sheathe during the conversation.

"So...here we are. It's been...well, not an honour, and certainly not a pleasure, but...an interesting association Cloud. Good luck." Sephiroth saluted. The odd display of humanity struck Cloud as odd, but before he could respond, the wind died.

* * *

This isn't quite the quality work I'd envisioned, but it'll have to do. Enjoy.


End file.
